We Missed the Scorpion
by SasukeUchihaMustDie
Summary: Orochimaru hadn't made a noticed move in quite sometime and the Akatsuki had all but vanished. However, poor Sakura Haruno would soon learn first hand that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were alive and well. SakuXSaso
1. To Smell a Rat

So yeah, this is my first Fanfiction (that I've submitted to the internet) so it's going to be an interesting experience, probably more for me than you. Anywho, this is a SakuXSaso Fanfic, as you've probably already guessed, and I'm sorry to inform you that Deidara-kun will not be appearing in this particular piece. It just so happens that I adore the SakuXDei paring and I'd feel sorry for DeiDei-kun if Sasori-kun got Sakura instead of him, or vise versa. (Of course, both of them are actually mine for the taking).

**The first three chapters are rather boring, and short. It gets better, I promise.**

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own Naruto. I'm pretty sure none of us on this little site do. If one of us did…well it would be sad.

And now…let us begin!

So yeah, the title I originally intended was too long to fit, so the real name is as followed:

**Because We Focused On the Snake, We Missed the Scorpion**

**Chapter One: To Smell a Rat**

Sakura Haruno lay quietly in her bed, a single sheet drawn over head like a hood. It was well into the midnight hours and she had been sleeping previously up until an uncomfortable feeling formed in the pit of her stomach.

'_The stars are beautiful tonight, yet they bring me no comfort_.'

Jade eyes gazed out into the starry sky above Konohagakura; the stars seemed to protect the village's slumbering citizens from harm, but tonight Sakura wasn't sure that they were watching over her. However, someone else was.

Crimson eyes peered through the window opposite of the one which Sakura Haruno had been looking through.

'_Her breathing has changed, she's asleep again_.' The eyes were sharp enough to detect such detail.

He was perched on a roof top with his hair, equally as red as his eyes, ruffling in the summer breeze.

'_I'm sick of waiting…I hate waiting…_'

The man was strikingly handsome with his pale skin and bed-eyes with bags under them, his lips were curled into a small grin.

Indeed, he wasn't in the peaceful village on a sightseeing tour; he was in Konohagakura on a mission and that mission involved the sleeping kunoichi across the street from him.

Konohagakura's security was incredibly lax, too lax. It had been along time since they had needed to hype up their defenses; Orochimaru hadn't made a noticed move in quite sometime and the Akatsuki had seemed to all but vanish. Of all of the Hidden Villages, Konohagakura should have been the one to realize that it was only the calm before the storm.

The guards of the village had failed to notice an intruder, which, by tomorrow evening would cause the security to be maximized to its full potential after they figured out just who had paid them a visit.

A stronger gust of wind caused his robe to sway making the red clouds embroidered on it seem to float along the heavy, black material. This man was no ordinary rogue ninja; he was Akatsuki.

He had to make sure she was sound asleep before he made his move, which he found very annoying. '_Why did this brat have to wake up? I could have been done with this by now._' The sky was losing its dark color slowly, but it was happening nonetheless. It was time for him to get the job done.

Hands with blackened nails pried open the unlocked window carefully. It was almost open when it made a sharp, quick screeching noise making the intruder pull back, dropping the window pane and having it slam shut.

The intruder swore under his breath as he looked into the room through the glass; the kunoichi was still sound asleep despite the noise he had just made.

'_Some kunoichi, what kind of shinobi isn't always on their guard? She certainly should have heard that._'

Lucky for him, she hadn't. Sakura Haruno was still sleeping peacefully in her cozy little bed with its fluffy pink pillows and comforter. The thought of all that pink sickened the missing-nin, '_I guess she lives up to her hair color_.'

This time he had succeeded in silently opening the window and successfully climbed through into her room. He brushed his cloak off as if it had dirt on it and straightened the collar; it was a habit of his.

Reaching into his cloak pocket he pulled out a single white handkerchief that emitted a sickeningly sweet aroma and smirked. This was too easy. He walked over to the bedside and reached a hand to pull the sleeping kunoichi over so that she faced him.

The only problem was she was feigning sleep.

Jade eyes met crimson as a kunai was thrust into his outstretched hand. He pulled back wincing; he wasn't used to the feeling of pain. Blood trickled onto Sakura's pink comforter as he locked eyes with her again. Only this time he wasn't attacked.

She was frozen, her eyes wide with fear. The man was used to having people react to him like this but he hadn't expected her to. As he covered her mouth and nose with the white chloroform laced handkerchief she managed to spit out one word before she fell unconscious: "_You_".

**A/N: Yes! It's done! The first chapter is complete. Huzzah! I plan on pretty much having every chapter end with a cliffhanger, but we'll see how well that goes. All the chapters'll have names of old sayings that will relate to that chapter in some particular way, even if it's just something one of the characters say or do. I like old sayings, yeah. I guess you'll probably have to look 'em up after you finish reading each chapter though. Oh and I decided to use my favorite quote of all time in this chapter. 'The stars are beautiful tonight, yet they bring me no comfort' is said by Raven to Shadow in Zoids: Chaotic Century. I even know what episode it was, it was The Distant Stars the one where Raven remembers his past when Riese… (goes on and on about Raven's past and how much she adores him). Anywho, I hope whatever poor soul who is reading this liked the first chapter. I know it's really not that exciting or creative but hopefully it'll get better…hopefully. XD Until next time!**


	2. Red Letter Day

Chapter Two: Red Letter Day

**Chapter Two: Red Letter Day**

Sakura Haruno awoke several days later in an unfamiliar bed in a very unfamiliar place.

The walls were black, the floors were of a deep mahogany and the only furniture in the room was an old dresser and a bookshelf filled with various books, scrolls and papers. A single window allowed a small amount of light to enter the room, but other than that the room was pretty much completely dark. It was an uncomfortable place; Sakura was used to her pink walls and décor of her own room. She wished she was there, under the covers of her own bed, now more than ever.

Memories of a few nights previous came flooding back when she noticed the tell-tale sign of whose room it was. In the corner of the room sat a large corpse of a human, preserved. One of Akasuna no Sasori's precious puppets.

Fear fell over her and she attempted to jump out of the bed to her feet but found that she could not and instead fell back over onto the pillow that was warm from the heat of her face.

She tried desperately to move her feet and hands and as she managed to wriggle free of the covers she discovered that they were bound by strong chakra strings that she could not break.

Fear turned into panic as she realized that she was completely vulnerable in this situation, something that she had always despised. In years past before she had trained vigorously with Tsunade she had always been the one that had to be protected from danger whether it was by Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi. She had hated those times and strived to change them and finally, during her battle with the man she was sure was dead, she managed to prove herself.

'_This has to be an awful nightmare, this can't be happening! He's _dead_! I _killed_ him!_'

It was true, months before Sakura and Sasori's own grandmother had defeated him. She had seen with her own two eyes the blood dripping from the only human part of his body, his heart.

But now her whole world seemed to be turned upside-down. She was in some strange place which was obviously Sasori's room, which meant she was obviously in Akatsuki Headquarters. And that meant he was alive! But how could that possibly be?

Her head ached from all the questions she was asking herself. '_How is he alive? Where is this place? What do they want me for? Why am I not dead? When will they kill me?_'

That last question that she asked herself sent a chill down her spine. It was only a matter of time; even though she was no longer the weak little girl she had once been there was no way she could take on the whole Akatsuki organization.

But if it was just him then it might be easier. She had defeated him once before, with the help of his grandmother, right? Or had she? She no longer knew, she no longer knew anything. It confused her so. But all of those answers were about to come crashing down on her because at that very moment the door clicked open and an all too familiar figure stood in the doorway.

"Well, it's a special day indeed for Sakura Haruno has graced us with her presence."

**A/N: I'm afraid this chapter is much shorter than I had originally anticipated it to be; I do not like short chapters in Fanfiction, they annoy me. Hopefully the next one'll be longer…the previous one was pretty short too. . Until next time!**


	3. A Thousand Enemies Outside the Tent

**Chapter Three: Better a Thousand Enemies Outside the Tent Than One Within**

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, open up!" Naruto Uzumaki pounded on his teammate's locked door. "Where could she be?"

"Ugly's probably still asleep in there, don't you have her key?" Sai leaned against the railing looking as emotionless as always.

"Oh! Oh yeah!" The lock clicked and the door opened. The two boys called out for her as they entered but no one responded. "She must be upstairs in the shower or something."

But she wasn't. She wasn't anywhere. "Something's not right here." Sai motioned to the open window. "Someone came through here last night; they probably took Ugly with them."

* * *

"Relax; we are not enemies at the moment."

Akasuna no Sasori's words went right through one of Sakura's ears and out the other; she was terrified, and she had the right to be, she was utterly defenseless after all.

Her fear amused him, so much as to let his lips twist into a small grin which frightened her even more.

"D-don't hurt me, please!"

He chuckled softly, "You're so different than you were just a few months ago. Here you are, pleading for your life at my mercy." He was just as arrogant as she had remembered.

Jade eyes opened wider and wider as he walked slowly towards her and finally sat down on the edge of his bed, cocking his head back to look at her. "I wish I could hurt you, torture you, make you scream in agony…but I'm under orders." He sighed at these last words; he seemed sincerely saddened by it.

Sakura's fear level dropped a few notches, enough for her to ask a question that had been bugging her for sometime now, at least since she had awakened. "How are you alive?"

Sasori's grin turned into something maniacal, his eyes widened and then softened as he turned back into his normal emotionless-self. "Orochimaru might be a genius, but he was stupid enough to leave most of his belongings behind when he fled the complex. One of those items just happened to be instructions on how to use his little Impure World Resurrection Jutsu." He didn't need to say anymore than that, it was obvious that one of the members felt that he was needed enough to be revived.

"S-so when I stabbed you—"

"It hurt."

So it was true, he really was of flesh and blood once again, even if it really wasn't his flesh and blood to begin with. Sakura's mind fluttered to pity the poor soul who lost their body to this monster for a moment, and then turned back to her captor.

"Why am I here?"

His twisted smirk returned; it was obvious that he had been waiting for her to ask that very question. It was amazing how those red eyes of his could turn from being completely dead to alive and then back again.

"Our organization came to the conclusion that capturing the Kyuubi container would be too troublesome." For a moment Sakura thought she was talking to Shikamaru. "So, it was easy enough for us to decide that the simplest way to catch him would be by making him come to us."

"I'm bait? You captured me to bait Naruto?" Her heart seemed to stop; she could possibly become the cause of her friend's demise.

"You are the thing most precious to him; he will do anything for you, even if it costs him his life in doing so." Now he sounded like Haku, couldn't he take on his own identity? Who would he be quoting next? Rock Lee? Neji? She didn't think she could handle another lecture on destiny. "Plus we have another reason for keeping you, but that'll be revealed in due time."

"So why was it _you_ who captured me? Isn't it Itachi and Kisame's job to capture Naruto?"

For some reason this seemed to touch a nerve, perhaps Sasori found it a tad embarrassing that he had such a simple mission. "They were away at the time on another task," he said stiffly.

"Do you promise not to escape, little girl, if I release your bonds?" Now it was Sakura's turn to have a nerve touched, where did he get off calling her 'little girl'? By the looks of it he was only a few years old than her. '_That's right, he's almost twenty years my senior._' It didn't seem possible, especially now that he was flesh and bone instead of wood and well…wood. Still, it didn't give him the right to refer to her as 'little girl'!

But what choice did she have? If she declined she would be forced to remain in these bonds, stuck in _his_ bed for the remainder of her time in Akatsuki Headquarters. It pained her to have to accept his terms and swallow her pride, but at the same time, in her current state, her pride might have well been stomped on by Gamabunta and served to Shukaku.

* * *

"I promise"

"Tsunade-baachan! Sakura-chan is missing!" The ninja clad in orange and black bolted into the Godaime's office room.

Tsunade did not seem as concerned as Naruto was as she took a long sip of her sake before acknowledging him. "So she went for a walk, what's new?"

This time it was Sai who answered, which caused Tsunade to grow somewhat concerned. "She was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? Sakura?" Tsunade slammed the sake cup down on the desk. "I don't think so."

"It's true, it was faint, but I could tell that someone besides Sakura had been present in her room, and her window was open. Tell-tale signs of entry."

Tsunade's brow furrowed, she couldn't think of any reason as to why anyone would kidnap the kunoichi other than to use her medical techniques and even that seemed improbable.

"And you're sure she's not wandering the streets somewhere?"

"We've looked all over."

"Very well, if she is not home by tonight then we'll go on alert, but before we do that I want to take a look at her house personally."

Tsunade was obviously very concerned about her student at this point for her to pay a visit to Sakura's house in person. Naruto taken notice to that and was fidgeting around nervously as they approached her home. Sai on the other hand was completely detached from the world, humming Ode to Joy, as to be expected.

The door was still unlocked from when Naruto and Sai had visited earlier. Tsunade's immediate response to this of course was natural. "Sakura! Sakura, are you here?" When no answer came the three of them climbed the staircase that led upstairs where Sakura's room was located.

There was no Sakura Haruno when Naruto and Sai had entered the room and there certainly was no Sakura Haruno now with the three of them there. Tsunade was much more of a detective than Naruto and Sai were. She began walking around the room searching for any signs of struggle. She scanned over the carpet to look for any indentations of feet that might have trod on it. There were none that could be seen but that didn't mean that there weren't any. And then her attention focused on the most obvious object in the room, Sakura's bed. Her hand touched the blood stain on Sakura's comforter. Something wasn't right.

"Get Kiba and Akamaru. Now."

**A/N: Yayyyy! Finally a fairly long chapter, hopefully they'll all be pretty long from here on. Haha, so I got this Naruto belt in the mail today, along with Itachi's necklace, Sasori and Deidara's rings, and Deidara's headband. Well anyways, the belt reads: "Naruto is atrainee to become a ninja in Konoha-Gakura ninja village. He likes to pull pranks on people and to eat noodle. His dream is to become the next Hokage." They probably should get a new translator. xD**


	4. Red Sky at Night

**Chapter Four: Red Sky at Night, Sailor's Delight. Red Sky in Morning, Sailor Take Warning**

Sakura sat slumped over in her chair, moving her eggs around her plate with the prongs of her fork. She was in quite the mood and did not need what was coming next.

"Hey Sasori, where's _my_ breakfast?" Kisame Hoshigake waltzed into the kitchen area of the Akatsuki complex, eyeing the contents on Sakura's plate longingly.

"You can make your own." Sasori hissed.

"Oh, you're in one of _those_ moods I see. Man, if I knew better I'd say the body that you inhabit is on her period, but I know for a fact we used a male's." Kisame sat down next to the equally moody pink-haired kunoichi. "And who's this?"

"Sakura Haruno, you should know that already after all we had a rather lengthy conference on the plan for the Kyuubi container's capture."

Kisame started pouring milk into his cereal, still eyeing Sakura's eggs and bacon, "Pfft, like I ever listen to what Leader has to say." He snatched a spoon out from the drawer behind him. "So kid, welcome to Akatsuki Headquarters, the gloomiest place in the world."

Sakura didn't pay any notice to him; she just kept chasing the eggs with her fork. Kisame wasn't used to being ignored, "Wow Sasori, you really chose a winner."

"Like it was my decision," Sasori scoffed. "I would have chosen anyone but her to be my captive."

Kisame poked the moody kunoichi with his milky spoon, "Hey kid, what'd you do to piss old wood and nails off?"

This time Sakura actually felt the need to speak to the annoying shark man; she had to control the smirk that wanted to play on her lips though. "I killed him."

"Yeah that would piss me off too," Kisame didn't have the manners to swallow his food before talking and he flicked his spoon back and forth while conversing and managed to hit Sasori with a Cheerio.

The missing-nin from Suna clicked his tongue in annoyance, warning Kisame not to test his patience at the moment.

Little did they know that everyone's patience would be tested in a second.

* * *

"Tsunade-baachan, why is the sky red?" Naruto Uzumaki leaned over Sakura's balcony looking into the morning sky.

"I don't know Naruto, and right now I really don't care." Sai was taking an awfully long time to retrieve Kiba.

But her patience was rewarded as the familiar bark of Akamaru was heard as the two shinobi and dog climbed Sakura's staircase.

"So what did you send me for me for, Tsunade-sama?" Akamaru stood at Kiba's side letting out a bark that asked her the same. It obviously didn't occur to Sai that he _might_ have wanted to inform Kiba as to why he was being summoned.

"Sakura is missing; it has become obvious to us that she was taken hostage and we need to know exactly who we're dealing with." Tsunade tried to hide the sound of worry in her voice. "There is a bloodstain on her comforter and I need Akamaru to try and identify whose it is."

Akamaru's nose twitched back and forth as he took in quick, short breaths, sniffing Sakura's comforter. He let out a low growl. "Akamaru says it's definitely not Sakura's."

"Well then whose is it?" Naruto asked eagerly; he needed to find Sakura as quickly as possible and return her safely.

A low growl was all that he got for an answer.

"He says it's Akatsuki."

* * *

"Oh God, here it comes," Kisame groaned, smacking his hand against his face.

"Oh! Oh! Tobi wants to meet Sakura-chan! Tobi wants to meet Sakura-chan!" A peculiar man dressed in the typical Akatsuki attire with a bright orange mask was bouncing up and down in the doorway.

Sakura's demeanor changed immediately; just who was this strange man?

"Tobi has waited a long time to meet Sakura-chan! Tobi has waited longer to meet Sakura-chan than Tobi waited to get his new Gundam model in the mail!" He took Sakura's hand and shook it, or rather yanked it up and down making her whole body move along with it.

And then something happened that she never would have dreamed could happen at the Akatsuki Headquarters: Sakura laughed.

For a moment Sakura could have sworn that it was probably Naruto behind the orange mask, but then it hit her that it wasn't, it couldn't be.

Her moment of sorrow didn't last long though as she watched this mysterious character called 'Tobi' dash over to Sasori and wrap his arms around him in a hug.

"Sasori-san! Tobi has missed Sasori-san!" It was obvious that Sasori had not missed Tobi one bit; the look on his face was of pure poison. "Get off me, Tobi."

Tobi withdrew himself from Sasori, but not because of the words said to him, but because another man had entered the room.

"I swear Tobi, if you fucking come near me I will rip you limb from limb."

Sakura whirled around to see an older man standing where Tobi had been before he embraced Sasori. His hair was sleek and silver and from his neck hung a pendant; a circle with a triangle inside of it.

"Is this the slut?" The man pointed to Sakura, it was apparent that Sasori wasn't the only one who was going to treat her like scum. "Hey she's kinda hot, she's mine after you're done with her, you lucky bastard."

Sakura's instincts told her to send this 'bastard' flying into the wall, but she decided it probably wasn't a good idea to anger four Akatsuki members.

Sasori didn't answer; instead he went on doing whatever he was doing at the counter. It seemed as though Sasori wasn't exactly fond of this man either.

"Sakura, this is Hidan," Kisame said through a mouthful of cereal. "He's a sadistic masochist son of a bitch; he's got some wacko religion that he practices too."

"Like you would know fucking anything about my religion, bastard. If it's so 'wacko' then why was I given immortality?" Sakura could understand why Sasori didn't like this man, and if anything she disliked him even more than Sasori, which was saying something.

"Well," Kisame yawned, breaking the tension in the room. "How about I show you the rest of Akatsuki Headquarters, kid?"

* * *

Kisame held open the door for Sakura, "And this is our yard."

Sakura was led outside to a rather large yard, something she wouldn't have expected in the industrious Rain Country. The grass was lush and green from the amount of rainfall the area receives and by the looks of the clouds in the sky, it could rain in any minute.

"Over here is the training area," Kisame pointed to upright logs with targets painted in red on them, they looked like they had been used quite frequently for throwing practice by the way the wood was chipping off. "And over that way is Tobi's pond."

"Tobi has a pond? How big of a pond?"

"Eh, big enough to fit all those fish of his in there, they all have names but I don't remember 'em." Sakura could definitely see Tobi naming all of his fish.

"And over here…" Sakura was led over to a gigantic garden filled with vibrant colored flowers ranging from the typical daisy to exotic plants that emitted toxic looking fumes probably used for poison concoctions, "Is Sasori's garden."

"_Sasori's_ garden? Shouldn't it be that plant guy's garden?" She was in shock, how could that murderer have a hobby that was so…human?

"Zetsu did have a garden but Leader made him take it down after some of the plants made several attempts to eat some of our members err, mainly Tobi and Itachi." Tobi she could see, but Itachi?

'_Has his blindness really progressed that far?' _ It was a shame that she had missed Itachi being swallowed by a giant flytrap of some sort. The picture would of made a great Christmas Card.

"Sasori spends most of his time here, well the time he isn't tinkering with those damn puppets of his, ah, speak of the devil."

Sakura turned around to see the puppet master walking towards them carrying a large bag of topsoil. He wasn't dressed in his usual Akatsuki robes; instead he was wearing what he most likely wore under them, a tight-knit mesh shirt and blue pants with sandals, along with those funny looking white stockings all the members wore.

Behind him trailed Tobi who was carrying a shovel, swinging it around as if he was some child who was pretending a stick was a sword. "Sakura-chan! Look at Tobi, Tobi is helping! Tobi is a good boy!"

"Yeah yeah, anyways, kid. Our last item on the tour is this swing over here; members use it when no one else is around."

'_Probably because they're too arrogant to admit they're all little kids at heart,'_ Sakura's heart stopped at this thought_,_ how could killers like the Akatsuki enjoy such a simple pleasure such as that?

When her thoughts came back to reality she looked over at Kisame who was grinning from gill to gill at Tobi, who was watching Sasori start to pull weeds from behind his orange mask. Tobi looked back over at Kisame and nodded.

That's when it happened. Kisame and Tobi each grabbed one of Sasori's arms, causing him to drop his spade. "What the hell are you doing? Put me down this instant!" The two of them continued to drag the kicking and struggling puppet master over towards the tree with the swing.

"Okay, on the count of three: one, two, three!" Kisame and Tobi lifted Sasori up by his arms and plopped him down on the swing. "Hold him there, Tobi!"

"Let me go! **NOW!**" Sasori kicked Tobi in the stomach, sending him backwards clutching his gut. The act had been in vain though as Kisame pushed the swing back, sending Sasori and the swing soaring upward.

Sakura was doubled over laughing, she couldn't help it. The fact that the arrogant Scorpion of the Red Sand was swinging, yet alone being pushed on a _swing_ against his will was just too much for her.

"L-look at him, that's…that's hilarious!" Tears fell down Sakura's cheeks as she watched Kisame push the angry missing-nin higher and higher.

"Just wait until I get down! I'll have your head on a platter!" Sasori thrashed in mid air but for some reason didn't let go of the ropes of the swing, "What's wrong Sasori, afraid of falling?" Sakura was literally rolling on the ground, her insides hurt from laughing so hard. "Shut up, little girl!"

Kisame shot Sakura a 'watch this' smirk and turned to Tobi who nodded. Kisame grabbed a hold of the ropes and yanked them as hard as he possibly could which caused Sasori to fall flat on his stomach. "You little—wait until I get my hands on you!"

Sasori snatched his spade off the ground and began chasing Kisame back and forth with it yelling profanities as he went. Sakura was hanging on to Tobi for support as she laughed and laughed, "Run Kisame! Run!"

The shark man made a sharp turn towards Sakura and Tobi with Sasori following suit. "Move!" he yelled, his red eyes wide with fury. Tobi stuck out his foot in front of the enraged puppet master causing him to trip and knock over Sakura and himself.

Time seemed to stand still as Sasori looked down at the pink haired kunoichi that he had landed upon. His face was too close to hers, way too close, his nose was almost touching hers. He couldn't move he was so shocked; he just stared into Sakura's jade eyes which stared right back into his. _'She smells like roses…'_

"Heh-hem." Kisame coughed, causing the two shinobi to bolt up, both of them blushing furiously, which the puppet master was not accustomed to. "You two lovebirds done?"

"Very funny, Kisame," Sakura glared, brushing the dirt off the back of her clothes.

Sasori shot Kisame an even deadlier glare, picked up his spade and threw it aside into the garden.

"Well, me and Tobi aught to go inside and leave you two time to _bond_," Kisame snickered, pulling the orange-masked shinobi by the hood of his robe. Sakura and Sasori stood frowning as they watched Tobi struggle against Kisame as he tried to return to the two of them. "Tobi wants to play! Tobi wants to play!"

* * *

Sakura sat next to the missing-nin from Suna pulling weeds from his garden. It was surprising that the garden was thriving so late in the season, it was already mid-September. "How do you manage to keep all these alive, I mean, it could snow soon."

Sasori's eyes glanced over at her and then returned to his work, "Care and patience, I shouldn't really be bothering actually, we're supposed to get our first frost tonight." He looked up at the clouded sky.

"So what's your favorite flower?" Sakura asked, flinging a weed over her shoulder. Sasori continued digging and then stopped, having enough manners to turn his head to look at her. "That white one over there, the Narcissus. It's in the Daffodil family." He pointed to a lone white flower. "I appreciate it more for its story than the actual flower itself."

"Oh? What's the story?"

"Legend says that a man named Narcissus was so in love with himself that when he saw his reflection in a pool of water, he became so obsessed with the mirror image of himself that he could not leave and thus died. The flower is then said to have sprouted up from where he died. It is named after him because the flower itself always leans towards water."

Sasori reached over and plucked it from its stem. "There," he placed it in Sakura's hair next to her headband, "It compliments the color of your hair."

Sakura turned away, blushing furiously, "Th-thank you, Sasori-san." Sasori-san? Since when did she show _him_ respect?

The Scorpion looked back up into the sky, his face blank and expressionless as usual, apparently he wasn't embarrassed at his actions, "We should go in, it's already past seven-thirty.

* * *

"Ugh, that's disgusting," Sakura's nose wrinkled at the smell of rancid, uncooked meat, Hidan's 'dinner'. "How can you eat that?"

The silver-haired missing-nin waved the piece of meat in front of Sakura's face, "You know you want some, slut."

"Sasori, are you almost done, we're starving here," Kisame was banging his silverware on his plate. "If you're so hungry then you cook supper."

The shark man grinned from gill to gill as Sasori poured beef stew onto each of their plates, except for Hidan who was already almost finished with his rancid steak.

"Thank you, Sasori," Sakura said as she bit into a chunk of beef, it was very well cooked and seasoned, which didn't surprise her, for some reason she had expected him to be a decent cook. She looked up at the other shinobi who were staring at her. "What?"

"I don't think anyone's ever said that in this house," Kisame snickered. "Let alone to old Wood and Nails."

Sasori frowned at Kisame and flung a piece of beef at his head with his fork. "Hey what the heck?!"

Sakura laughed, she had been doing a lot of that lately. _'Maybe this won't be so bad after all…'_

"Itachi, nice of you to join us," She wheeled around to see the Uchiha clan murderer standing in the doorway. Sakura knew she would have to meet him at some point, but she wasn't expecting it to be so soon. A feeling of loathing came over her, sure, she was no longer in love with Sasuke after all he had done to her, her friends, and Konoha, but that didn't mean that her feelings towards his brother had changed.

"Sakura Haruno, long time no see," Itachi's mouth curled into a smirk, he knew exactly what Sakura was thinking. "Itachi," she acknowledged.

She watched him carefully as he poured himself a bowl of stew and sat down next to Kisame, he had his Sharingan on; his blindness must have been progressing. Itachi was getting a kick out of how uncomfortable he was making her.

"So, when do you plan on healing my eyes, Sakura?" Itachi asked causing Sakura to choke on her stew. "Oh, you haven't heard?"

The four Akatsuki members stopped eating, even Hidan, apparently they knew something she didn't, "I would _never_ heal your eyes, Itachi."

"Oh, you haven't told her yet, Sasori? Interesting…" Itachi's ego was reaching an all-time high, and that was saying something.

"No, I was waiting for Leader to inform her, I really have no opinion on the matter after all," Sasori shrugged. Itachi turned back to Sakura, "Well you should, seeing as she'll be _your_ partner."

Sakura dropped her fork, "_What_?" What was _that _supposed to mean?

"Oh you haven't heard? Leader is recruiting you to Akatsuki, you'll be partnering up with your dear friend Sasori here."

Color drained from her face, Sasori's partner? She was supposed to work with him? But wait, she was supposed to join Akatsuki?!

"That's impossible; I'm only a chuunin, why would your leader want me as a member? Not that I would ever join anyways," How could they think she would possibly do something like that? It was bad enough for her to be bait for Naruto, but go along with killing him and the other Jinchuuriki containers? Preposterous.

"Simple, you have advanced healing techniques that could rival your Sensei's, not to mention your perfect chakra control and strength; you would be a great asset to our organization." Itachi stated blankly although she knew that he was getting a kick out of the whole situation.

"I absolutely refuse, there's no way in hell I would ever join," Sakura slammed her hand down on the table; luckily it didn't break or crack. The four of them watched her curiously, waiting for her next move. "You don't have a choice; do you think Leader would really give you that option?"

The thought never occurred to her, but when she thought about it she realized that most of them probably were recruited that way. She had heard of his ideals and highly doubted any of them truly believed in them.

Sakura sat in silence for the remainder of dinner.

"I'm going to take a shower," Sakura told Sasori, still angry at the fact that she was going to be come a part of their wretched organization.

* * *

She slammed the door behind her to Sasori's room and clutched the sides of the sink, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was slightly frizzed from the humidity of the area but other than that she looked up to her standards.

After placing her headband and Sasori's flower on the sink she removed all of her clothing, turned on the hot water, and stepped inside behind the shower curtain. All of her worries and woes seemed to wash down the drain with the water as she finally became relaxed after a long, interesting day.

'_The Akatsuki…I never would have pictured them like this…'_

Indeed, Sakura had found out first hand that the people that society had deemed monstrous seemed so human, so normal now, for the exception of Itachi. Kisame was a lot like Naruto; he was a prankster and liked to make her and everyone else laugh. Tobi was well…Tobi. He had a personality like no one she had ever met, he was carefree and clumsy, and well, Sakura couldn't really describe it but he was sort of oblivious to the world. Tobi seemed to see everything how it should be, the world was ideal in his eyes. Hidan cursed and swore constantly, he was a masochist and a sadist from what Kisame had said, but there was something humorous in him. Sasori was distant and aloof, but somehow he brought the group together, it just wouldn't seem right without him.

'_Sasori…'_

He was different than she had expected, he wasn't exactly nice to her, but on the other hand he wasn't nasty to her either, which was surprising because he had absolute reason to hate her.

Her mind flashed back to her encounter with him earlier that day. She found herself blushing as she recalled how he had been kneeling over her, how close he had been to her he could of—

'_No Sakura, stop it!'_ What was she _thinking_?!

She still had the flower he had placed in her hair, the Narcissus. _'He picked his favorite flower for me…'_

Sakura touched her face, she could feel herself blushing, even with all the heat from the hot water. Shaking her head to remove those thoughts she stepped out of the shower and snatched up one of Sasori's towels and began drying her hair and the rest of her. She looked down to the pile of clothing that was at her feet and that's when it hit her. _'I don't have any clothes!'_

She hastily tied the wet towel around herself and swung open the door. Luckily he was still in the room, sitting in bed against the backboard reading a book, or was that a bad thing? Sasori's left eyebrow arched as he looked at the still-relatively-wet kunoichi. "Can I help you?"

"I have no clothes," she stated, looking at him for an answer.

"And?"

"Well don't you have something I could wear? You knew I was going to be staying here, didn't you have the mind to buy me some clothing, or even snatch some of my clothes?"

Sasori's other eyebrow arched, obviously he hadn't. "Well," he said getting up. "I suppose for the night you can wear one of my sleeping yukatas." Sakura watched him walk over to his dresser, open one of the drawers and pull out a plain red yukata. He tossed it over to her. Now it was her turn to arch her eyebrow, she opened her mouth to make some sarcastic remark but instead turned and slammed the bathroom door behind her.

Moments later she was back in his room wearing _his_ yukata.

"Ugh, I'm so tired," she yawned, and then paled. "Where am I going to sleep? And where are _you_ going to sleep?"

Sasori set his book down on his bed on one of the pillows. "Well seeing as this is my bed I generally sleep here, and unless you want to sleep in the hallway, you're sleeping here too."

"_What_?! Sleep with _you_?! In the same bed?!"

"I'm sorry, do you see another bed here?"

"I can't sleep with you, you're—you're—"

"Human, thanks to you. If you hadn't killed me I wouldn't need to sleep and you could have the bed all to yourself, see what you've done?"

"I can't sleep with you."

"Grow up, little girl," Sasori's tone was like poison. _'Grow up?...'_ Maybe she _was_ acting childish…

"Fine, but on one condition." Sakura crossed her arms.

"Since when do you make the rules around here?"

Rolling his eyes at Sakura's frown, he threw the book onto the floor. "What _conditions_?"

"You stop calling me 'little girl'."

**A/N: Now, there's a chapter that's actually sorta long. No more short little chapters, those are pointless, yeah. I just got a Sasori plushie from the UPS man. xD He's so cute. Now I have him and Deidara...and Edward Elric. Yay Edward Elric.**


	5. Home Is Where the Heart Is

**Chapter Five: Home Is Where the Heart Is**

It was around three in the morning and Sakura had not yet fallen asleep. She was facing the back of the sleeping Sasori, who was curled up in a ball and emitted little snorts every so often.

Sakura had replayed her first day with the Akatsuki over and over in her head, it all seemed so unreal. From breakfast 'til dinner, her day had been…memorable.

If this was her new home, like Itachi had basically told her, would all her days be like that? She honestly hoped so; it would make the fact that she was going to become a part of this criminal organization somewhat tolerable.

So far, she liked most of the members that she had met, well except for maybe Hidan and definitely not Itachi.

And then her mind turned to Naruto and the others.

What were they doing? Had they noticed she was missing, were they worried? Did they know who had captured her? Had Tsunade formed a search party? When would they come get her? _'Do I even want them to come get me?'_

She bolted up, clutching her head in shock. Where did that come from? Of course she wanted to be rescued, to get out of this Hell Hole!

"Ugh, what's the matter?" Her actions had apparently awoken the sleeping puppet master. Sasori sat up next to her, rubbing his eyes. "Couldn't you have woken me up a little closer to dawn?"

If Sakura wasn't so shocked at her thoughts she would have laughed. Sasori's face was to die for, he could barely open his eyes and he licked his lips over and over, it was as if he hadn't slept in months. "I'm sorry, go back to sleep; it was only a bad dream."

"Oh yeah, that's right, just wake me up over nothing," The missing-nin curled back into a little ball and pulled the covers over his head, he was apparently very annoyed at his early wake up call.

Sakura laid back down and closed her eyes, _'He's right, it's nothing…'_

* * *

"Tobi, SHUT UP!"

Sakura and Sasori entered the kitchen area to find Tobi sitting beside the oven banging pots and pans with Kisame standing above him brandishing a long bread knife.

"Tobi wants to sing, Tobi is going to be in a band someday!"

"Tobi can bang on the pots and pans all he wants, FAR AWAY FROM THIS HOUSE!" Kisame picked up one of the pots and pans and threw it at Tobi's head making a 'klink' sound as it hit his orange mask.

"Are we interrupting something?" Sasori's mouth was twisted a grin.

"I don't know, are _we_? Bow-chicka-bow-wow." The shark man smirked at Sakura and Sasori, who were apparently not amused. "Oh c'mon guys, you know what I mean, you know, like me and Tobi were interrupting—"

"I know very well what you mean, and don't ever say that again."

"Oh c'mon!"

Sakura sat down in the same spot that she had sat in the day before. "Ugh I'm so tired," she whined.

"What, you and Sasori have a _rough night_? Haha, get it?" Sasori threw one of Tobi's pots at Kisame's head. "Oh c'mon, that was uncalled for, Sasori!"

Tobi sat down next to Sakura, "Tobi can give Sakura-chan one of Tobi's stuffed animals if it will help Sakura-chan sleep better." The pink-haired kunoichi smiled at the offer, "Thanks Tobi, but you don't have to do that."

"No no, Sakura-chan can have one of Tobi's Beanie Babies! Tobi collects them, Tobi collects lots of things!"

"Yeah he has this really impressive Yu-gi-oh! Collection, he's even got all the Legendary God Cards," Kisame opened the freezer door and snatched up a couple ice cubes, wrapping them in a paper towel to ice the lump on his head from the pot. "So what's for breakfast?"

"_We're_ having waffles; _you _can have whatever _you_ can scrounge up." That would teach Kisame to watch what he said, revenge is sweet.

"It's okay Kisame-san! Tobi can make you waffles too! Tobi knows how to make lots of things with Tobi's Easy-Bake Oven!"

Although half asleep, Sakura couldn't help but snort from suppressed laughter. Even though Tobi was just trying to help, she could totally see him cooking with an Easy-Bake Oven, with a pink frilly apron and matching pink oven gloves.

"That's okay Tobi, I'll pass. Looks like it'll be another exciting morning of Lucky Charms," Kisame grumbled, opening the pantry.

Sasori pulled out the waffle iron and the contents needed to make the actual waffles. "Tobi, if you could be so kind as to set the table for us, excluding Kisame, and our guest."

"I'm not really a guest though, am I? I mean this is where I live now, right?"

"Yeah," Kisame spat a marshmallow rainbow onto the table. "You're family now, kid."

"Family?"

"Yeah, that's right, we're just all one big, happy, dysfunctional Akatsuki family," Kisame threw an arm over Sakura's shoulder and grinded his fist against her skull. "Hey, that hurts!"

The orange-masked shinobi leaned over the table as he set the table for Sakura. "Tobi wants a marshmallow."

"Well Tobi can't have one, only that crazy little Leprechaun guy can be after my Lucky Charms," He picked up the bowl and moved it away from Tobi.

"Tobi can be a Leprechaun!"

"No, no Tobi can't be a Leprechaun."

"Why can't Tobi be a Leprechaun?"

"Because Tobi isn't green, he's like…err…sorta orange."

"So does that mean Zetsu is a Leprechaun?"

"Uh yeah, that's right; Zetsu is after this here bowl of cereal and all of its marshmallow-y goodness."

Sakura's sides hurt from laughing so hard, the Akatsuki certainly were 'dysfunctional' like Kisame had said, maybe even 'family'-like, if that's how the Akatsuki viewed families. Then again, she remembered Sasori's first puppets, his parents, and his grandmother and how much he loathed her. _'Maybe they all had such tragic pasts that this is the only true family they've ever known.'_

Sasori placed two waffles onto Sakura's plate, she sniffed the steam coming from them, "They smell so good."

"Yeah they do. Hey Sakura, how about sharing with your old pal, Kisame?" Frowning, Sakura moved her plate away from the hungry shark-man and reached over for the maple syrup. "Not on your life."

"Oh c'mon, we're _family_, remember?"

* * *

"Tsunade-baachan! Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto Uzumaki pounded on the door of Hokage Mansion; he was doing a lot of that lately. "Tsunade-baach—"

"WHAT?!" Tsunade's hair was in a rat's nest, all messed up and unkempt. Even though it was already eleven-thirty it looked like the Sannin had just woken up, probably with a hangover. "What is so urgent that you have to wake me up this early?!"

"But Tsunade-baachan, it's already past eleven!"

"Oh. So it is," Tsunade checked her watch, scratching her head. "Now what do you want, Naruto?"

"When are we going looking for Sakura-chan?" The Sannin felt sorry for the poor kid, he had lost his one friend to Orochimaru and now he had lost another to the Akatsuki. "I don't know Naruto, I haven't received word from Jiraiya, and without him we can't even start."

The Jinchuuriki host looked defeated, Tsunade tried to lighten up a little, "I'm sorry Naruto, we'll do whatever we can once Jiraiya returns, but as for right now err…you just need to focus on training to combat the Akatsuki."

On that note, Naruto perked up, "Alright Tsunade-baachan! I'll do just that, I'll train so hard I'll be able to take on _all_ the Akatsuki!" He sped off like an orange blur into the village.

Tsunade sighed, closing the door behind her, "Kids these days."

* * *

"It's cold out here," Sakura shivered as they walked along Amegakura's crowded streets.

"Well, we did have our first frost last night, so what do you expect?" The three of them were wearing the usual Akatsuki attire, minus the sakkats, "Ugh this is so humiliating…"

"Get used to it, kid. Pretty soon you'll be wearing these robes everyday." Kisame patted her on the shoulder. "For the time being we'll get ya some new clothes, that's what we're here for after all."

"Oh in here!" Sakura yanked the two of them by their collars into a store filled with flower arrangements and pink things. Sasori and Kisame looked at each other and then to the store manager who had just welcomed them, or at least welcomed Sakura. "Some how I think we look just a tad out of place in here, Sasori ol' pal."

The two Akatsuki members watched as Sakura ran around the store, grabbing this and that until she couldn't carry anymore. She probably had more clothing in her hands than the two of them had ever owned combined. Yukatas, Kimonos, Obi, and even a few hair ornaments, Sakura was going to be the big sale of the day. The store manager looked on with glee. "I'll just be a few moments; I'm going to try a few of these on."

"How do I loo—" Sakura's mouth dropped as she opened the dressing room door to find a rather peculiar sight. "Hey kid, I think Sasori's ready for the beauty pageant."

Akasuna no Sasori stood emotionless and still as Kisame continued to tie colorful bows on Sasori's crimson hair. There were several crystallized flowers tucked in and to top it all of an expensive looking floral headband. "I look like a Christmas Tree."

"Well soon enough you'll be in season," Sakura laughed, handing the clothing articles to the store manager, whom was still eyeing the two missing-nin suspiciously. If they hadn't been purchasing so much Sakura was sure the three of them would have been kicked out. "I'll take these and all the assorted accessories in my friend's hair."

'_Did I just call him a _friend_? He's not a friend, he's my captor!'_

"Oh yeah, easy for you to say, you don't have to pay for any of this!"

* * *

"This is so embarrassing," Sasori complained, adjusting one of the bows. "When can I take these out?"

"Look who's embarrassed now," Sakura frowned, looking down at her Akatsuki uniform. "You can take them off after we get back to Headquarters."

"Not until I get a picture of this," Kisame smirked, running in front of the two to get a better look at Sasori's hair-do, "Classic."

"If Leader sees me I'll be kicked out for sure."

"Nah, it could be worse, you could be Tobi." He turned to Sakura, "Hey kid, where to next?"

Sakura looked taken aback, "Well I don't know, where do you want to go?"

"No no, this is _your_ field-trip, you choose." Kisame gave her a hard slap on the back, "Lead the way."

"Let's get something to eat," Sasori suggested, sighing. He really just wanted to crawl in a corner and die, but then he remembered that dying wasn't all that fun. "Over there, it's a good place for ramen."

* * *

Sakura bit her tongue to stop her eyes from tearing up. They were sitting, eating ramen in a stall much like Ichiraku causing her thoughts to turn to Naruto. _'I hope he's okay…'_

"Goddammit, give me that back!" The thoughts vanished as her emotions changed as she watched Kisame dangle Sasori's wallet above his head, making the ex-Suna shinobi hop up and down on his stool trying to steal it back. "Kisame, if you don't give me that back—"

"You'll what? Pay for lunch? Great idea," He dropped the wallet on Sasori's highly decorated head. "Just you wait, Kisame…"

Sakura snorted into her ramen, what was with these two? They were like an old married couple, constantly bickering back and forth. The smart idea would be to separate the two, but that would be no fun, "You two need to calm down, especially you Sasori, you've been receiving a lot of questionable looks."

Sasori frowned, rolling his eyes as he slurped up the remainder of his noodles, "Let them look, they're just jealous."

"Hey I haven't taken a picture yet!"

The three of them returned to Akatsuki Headquarters around four o'clock, Kisame and Sasori were carrying all of Sakura's new belongings, Sasori was luckily carrying less than Kisame, which allowed for him to rip out all of his little accessories.

_'Here we are, home, sweet home...'_

It was lucky for Sasori that he did remove all of the bows and flowers, because standing before them was—"Leader-sama."

* * *

"Sakura Haruno, it is a pleasure to have you with us," Their leader was a tall man with spiked, auburn hair and many, many piercings, next to him stood an equally tall female with dark blue hair dressed in the usual Akatsuki attire, "I see you have become acquainted with Kisame and Sasori."

Sakura looked at Kisame and then to Sasori, both who were focused on their Leader. She herself turned back to the strange man. "My name is Pein and I am the leader of this organization known as 'Akatsuki', this is Konan, my partner in battle"

The woman named Konan gave Sakura a curt nod of acknowledgement. For some reason Sakura highly doubted that Pein and Konan were just 'partners in battle'.

"Sakura, Sasori, this way please," Pein motioned for the two of them to follow him inside. Once they were inside he lead them into a room that Kisame had not shown her on the tour that he had given her, it looked like what she assumed to be Pein's office.

The Leader leaned over on his desk, crossing his arms. "Sakura, have you been informed yet of my request for you?"

"Yes, yes I have been."

"And do you accept my request?"

Sakura frowned, "Do I really have a choice in the matter?" Pein smiled, but his eyes were still cold, "Of course not."

She glanced over at Sasori who ignored her and continued to stand rather attentively for his Leader, Sakura's new Leader. "Very well then, from now on you may consider yourself a member of my organization, and Sasori's partner," He walked over behind his desk and opened one of the drawers. "And this," he held out his hand to her. "Is your new ring."

Sakura took the ring from his hand and examined it, the ring itself looked just the right size for one of her little fingers. "That goes on your left little finger, you are to keep it on at all times."

Placing the ring on her finger, it glowed red for a moment and then stopped. Suddenly, Sakura keeled over, it felt like her insides were going to collapse on her. "Wh-what's happening?!"

And then it stopped and Sakura regained composure. Looking up at Pein, she saw him sneer, "Welcome to Akatsuki, Sakura Haruno."

* * *

"Is this the part where we break out the nail polish?" Sakura muttered, her tone very sarcastic. She was seated next to Sasori on the couch, a wool blanket wrapped around her. Hidan and Kisame sat in chairs opposite of each other and Tobi was sitting before the hearth, poking the fire with a poker.

"Nail polish? Ohhhh, you don't need that, look," Sakura looked down at her hands, her nails had turned a sickly charcoal color. "Eww, are they going to be like that forever?"

"As long as you have the ring on, at least that's what we assume. None of us has ever dared to remove one of our rings."

"Tobi likes his ring, Tobi thinks it's pretty."

"Yeah well Tobi can go to hell, stupid bastard."

The Akatsuki common room was very well decorated, its furniture very expensive and very high quality and the wooden floor had old style parkay patterns. Pictures on the wall varied from a large mural of Amegakura to what looked like a birthday party with all the Akatsuki members seated around a table with a cake in the middle.

Tobi poked one of the logs with the poker, causing a piece of ash to fall out in front of him He jumped backwards and pointed at the fire. "The fire! It's trying to attack Tobi!"

"Oh get a grip Tobi, you stupid bastard," Hidan kicked him in the back. "If you're so afraid give me the fucking poker, I'll fucking move the log."

Tobi handed over the poker to Hidan who sat down beside him at the hearth. "This is our thing, slut. We have fucking fires every so often."

"So you guys have _bonding_ time?" Sakura snickered, watching Tobi attempt to hug Hidan. "Tobi, you fucking bastard! Don't you dare come near me!"

"Yeah, bonding time, right. If that's what you want to call it, more like Sasori reads in silence and Hidan tries to kill Tobi."

"That's not entirely true," Sasori tipped his book so that he could be seen, his reading glasses on the tip of his nose. "I contribute every so often."

"Oh right, I forgot that the whole 'I'm going to my room because you imbeciles are too loud' counted."

"I do not say that!" Sasori slammed his book down on the table, causing his glasses to fall off his nose. He pocketed them and leaned back against the back of the couch, "Fine, if that's what you desire, I'll converse."

"Alright Mister I-Feel-Special-Because-I-Use-Fancy-Words, what exactly do you want to talk about?"

"How should I know? I _never_ talk, remember?"

"Tobi knows! Oh! Oh! Pick Tobi, pick Tobi!" The missing-nin from who-knows-where hopped up and down, his hand raised.

"Ugh no, don't fucking pick Tobi, I don't even want to hear it, fucking bastard."

"What is it Tobi? What do you want to talk about?" Sakura asked kindly, as if she was talking to a child. "Tobi thinks we should talk about Sasori and Sakura!"

Sakura wanted to jump out of her seat, but she held herself back not wanting to offend the childish ninja, "W-what's that supposed to mean, Tobi?" Sakura stuttered, blushing a color that could rival Sasori's crimson hair. "Tobi thinks we should play house, Sakura and Sasori could be the mommy and daddy!"

Kisame was doubled over on the floor laughing, kicking his feet in the air and Hidan was only managing to stay seated by holding on to the poker for support. Sasori looked as though someone had just died in front of him, a complete look of utter surprise. Sakura's jaw had dropped as she stared bewildered at the orange-masked shinobi. Tobi on the other hand cocked his head in confusion. "Doesn't Sakura-chan want to play house with Tobi?"

"Yeah, doesn't Sakura-chan want to play house?" Kisame laughed, his hand resting on Hidan's shoulder to support himself, "Yeah fucking c'mon guys, we gotta go to fucking school so mommy and daddy can have some _alone_ time."

Sakura reached across Sasori, grabbing his book and chucking it at Hidan's head. "You're disgusting, Hidan."

"Hey mom, what do you and dad do after me, Hidan, and Tobi go to bed?" Kisame and Hidan roared with laughter, "Hey, hey mom and dad—"

"Tobi doesn't get it."

"Yeah we don't either Tobi, mom and dad have to _explain_ it to us."

"In great fucking detail too, otherwise we won't fucking _understand_ it."

"Enough!" Sasori stood over the two men, Sakura had never seen him so livid, not even when they were battling months prior. "Hey chill out, Sasori. We were just fucking kidding."

"We were?"

Sasori stormed out of the room, furious. The two men settled down, controlling themselves. They looked over at Sakura in unison, "What's wrong with him?"

* * *

Sakura looked down at Sasori's withered garden, during the night the frost had killed off all of his flowers, even the toxic ones. Her mind trailed back to the Narcissus that was being pressed under several books so that she could save it.

He wasn't anywhere, he wasn't in his room, or anywhere in the house. She thought she might find him outside tending to his garden, but then she remembered the frost. He wasn't even on the swing that hung from the large oak tree.

She felt guilty for some reason about the whole ordeal, even though it certainly wasn't her fault. Maybe it was the 'mother' in her.

'Tobi's pond…'

There he was, sitting on a large rock skipping stones. By the looks of it he had cooled down.

"I couldn't stand it anymore," he stated blankly, flicking his wrist so that a small piece of shale hopped several times on the water before sinking into the pond. "They're very immature, maybe even more so than Tobi."

"I wish I could do that," Sakura sat down beside him, admiring his talent. "It's easy, really, although it does take some practice."

She picked up a small piece of shale and attempted to make it skip, failing miserably. "Aww, I can't do it."

"No," Sasori gently grabbed her wrist and placed a piece of shale in her hand. "Like this!" He guided her hand as she flicked a stone into the water, the stone hopped along the surface.

"Wow, that was four times!" It was a good thing it was dark out otherwise Sasori would notice how red her face was. "So like this?"

The two of them flicked stone after stone into the dark waters of the pond, "What if we hit one of the fish?"

"They'll live," Sasori didn't seem very concerned, probably because he hadn't exactly forgave the fish's owner for the ordeal he had spawned. "You should probably head on in, we have a mission tomorrow."

"A mission already?" Sakura had just joined and they were already going on their first mission together? "What—"

"I'll tell the details tomorrow, good night, Sakura Haruno."

* * *

Sakura sighed, stepping inside her room, Sasori's room. It had been another long and interesting day at Akatsuki Headquarters and she had had enough of all its members for one day.

She unzipped her Akatsuki robes and took off the snug mesh shirt, blue pants, stockings and sandals that went along with it. _'What a day…'_

The pink-haired kunoichi slipped on one of her new sleeping yukatas, it was as pink as her hair with daisies prints. After tying the obi around herself and then admiring the new clothing in an old, dirty full-length mirror, Sakura turned towards the bed and then froze.

_Tobi sat down next to Sakura, "Tobi can give Sakura-chan one of Tobi's stuffed animals if it will help Sakura-chan sleep better." The pink-haired kunoichi smiled at the offer, "Thanks Tobi, but you don't have to do that."_

"_No no, Sakura-chan can have one of Tobi's Beanie Babies! Tobi collects them, Tobi collects lots of things!"_

There on the pillow of the bed, on the side where Sakura slept, was one of Tobi's prized stuffed animals, a scorpion.

**A/N: Alright, that's the final chapter for today, no more. Not because I'm that tired and all...and not because it's 2:38am...but because my mother's not too happy that I'm up this late. . I'll probably update tomorrow I'm sure, a chapter or two. Oh, and if you could all be so kind as to rate and review or whatnot, that'd be just ueberspifftacular.**


	6. Things Are Seldom What They Seem

**Chapter Six: Things Are Seldom What They Seem**

Wiping the dust off the old mirror, Sakura looked at her reflection. She barely recognized herself, before her in the mirror stood a girl that resembled herself, but was dressed in the robes of the people she had sworn to forever hate. It didn't make any sense, how could she have wound up in such a position, to be a member of the criminal organization that called themselves 'Red Dawn'? The girl in the mirror mimicked her movements, but it couldn't be Sakura Haruno, Sakura Haruno would never let herself wear such clothing, the clothing of murderers. Sakura Haruno had vowed to protect her dear friend, Naruto Uzumaki, not take part in activities that would lead to the death of him. She watched as tears welled up in the girl in the mirror's jade eyes and then trail down her face. Sakura touched her cheek and reality hit her, there were the tears of the girl in the mirror on her own face. _'How did I end up like this? This isn't what I wanted…'_

No matter what she truly wanted, this was reality. This was her new life and she had to get used to it, fast. Sasori was her partner in crime, literally, and she had to work with the s-ranked criminal ninja from there on. It was all happening so fast, one day she was having lunch with Ino and Hinata and the next she was in a country far from her hometown wearing the ring and clothing that signified she belonged to an organization feared by all. She was only a chuunin, but they still wanted her among their ranks. Had her skills in medical jutsu and chakra control really improved that much, so much that they had scouted her out for them? It scared her, but for the first time in her life she didn't feel like a burden. She was needed now, the Akatsuki needed her.

But then she remembered that she wasn't only needed for her help in her Leader's plan for world domination, or 'world peace' as he called it, she was also bait for her teammate, her dear friend Naruto. What would happen if the time came for her to have to face him, to face him as an enemy, not as an equal? She couldn't do it, she would never fight against him, never. If the time came she would turn on the Akatsuki, she would fight to save Naruto and protect him from them, even if it cost her her life.

And then she remembered the past two days and how much fun she had with them, how much she had smiled and laughed. Now that she thought about it, could she really face them, could she even attack them, let alone with the intention to kill? She had begun to learn more about them, as people, not as a group bent on a sick ideal. Looking down at her hands, she could not see them clenching into fists and hurting them. Her head ached from all the thoughts that were running through her brain, she dreaded the day that Naruto and the others would come to rescue her, if they were even going to rescue her, because she did not know which side to pick. A part of her wanted the others to never come for her, even if it meant she would never see her friends from Konoha ever again. She just didn't know what she would do when the time came.

It was time for her to face the music and find Sasori so they could start their mission, whatever it was. She looked back into the dirty old full-length mirror to see the girl standing in it, her own reflection, with a confident smirk on her face, eyes determined despite the redness caused from the falling of tears. Sakura was ready for her first mission for the Akatsuki.

* * *

"Kabuto…"

The room's only source of light was from the wax candle burning on an old, beat up, side table. What furniture was in the room was just like the side table, the pieces had seen better days. The stench of blood wafted up from the pool of water that covered the concrete floor, it was sickening enough to make even the strongest gag. Large tanks lined the walls filled with various creatures, all which looked mutated, hideous, and highly dangerous. No, this room wouldn't do very well on the real estate market.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses that had slid down his nose from the sweat that had accumulated, the room was very hot and humid. He looked nervous and almost timid, he always looked that way when his master was hatching some diabolical plan of attack, "Sakura Haruno…I have received word that she is now with the Akatsuki."

The Sannin sat on a wooden rocking chair, wincing in pain, he would have looked rather pathetic if he wasn't such a threat to the world. His arms were charcoal black and rendered useless as the Third Hokage had stolen the soul right out of them. Had he known that his former Sensei would have done such a thing he wouldn't have been so careless. The Hokage had stolen something much more valuable to him than his arms, he had stolen precious jutsus. How could he possibly come in possession of every technique in the book if he couldn't move his fingers to form hand signals? "Yes Orochimaru-sama, I came across that information as well."

"She is the only one besides Tsunade who could possibly return my arms to normal, we need to find her as soon as possible." This wouldn't be as easy now that the Akatsuki had moved Headquarters since he left the organization, it would be even more difficult now that the wretched kunoichi was in the hands of s-ranked criminals, "Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

"So what's our mission?" Sakura and Sasori exited Amegakura's gates and found themselves on a dirt road, much different than Ame's pavement. The ex-Suna shinobi had told her to pack lightly so it couldn't be a very long mission, but then again she expected he probably wasn't exactly used to actually having to pack since he had only recently became human again. "We have to head into Rice Country, once we get there I'll tell you more."

"Rice Country? That's near Otogakura!" They were heading towards Orochimaru's village, which possibly meant that they were heading towards Sasuke. What would she do if she came across him? Her safety wasn't exactly what she was worrying about, she had Sasori with her after all, she was worried more about how he would react. Even though her feelings for him were long gone, she didn't want to face him in battle. "Isn't that really far too? Why did you tell me to pack light?!"

"Well if you brought too much with you it would just be a burden, right?" She was right, Sasori really wasn't used to having to carry stuff around, and he couldn't just stash it in the puppet body's stomach that he had inhabited anymore now that he was human again. It seemed strange, him being human, well it seemed strange that he was even _alive_. He was still cocky and arrogant, his personality hadn't changed, and in some way he was still immortal even in flesh and blood. As long as his soul wasn't ripped out of him like Orochimaru's had been he was pretty much invincible, he could even reconstruct body parts if they were cut off in battle. Thankfully he didn't partake in strange satanic rituals to test his immortality like Hidan did, "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

The sun was setting, the day seemed to have gone on forever. Pink and purple clouds scattered across the peach-colored sky, it was really a very beautiful sunset, and Sakura hadn't seen one like quite like that in a long time. Her feet hurt from all the walking they had been doing, they hadn't stopped once all day. She would do anything to be at her own bed or back in the one at Akatsuki Headquarters, with her luck they'd be sleeping in the dirt with only a tree for shelter. "Where are we staying?"

"There's an inn not too far ahead," Thank God, that would spare her from aches and pains from sleeping on the hard ground, not to mention all the bug bites that she would acquire. Of course, she highly doubted that the place they were going to stay at was a high-class luxury hotel with room-service, but it would have to do. Maybe Sasori would even rent two rooms, then she wouldn't have to listen to his snoring all night long.

* * *

He was right, soon enough Sakura could see a roof and chimney along the horizon which quickly turned into a three story inn. The architecture was an old style, the inn itself was made up of large stones, something Sakura had only seen in picture books. It looked rather homey, there was welcoming-looking smoke emitting from the chimney and in front of the inn was a small vegetable garden full of tomatoes, bell peppers, and sunflowers. It had probably been someone's house before it was converted into an inn. "This is it right, I mean we're not stay at some crummy hotel down the lane, right?"

"No, this is it," Sasori held open the light-brown, wooden door for her and followed her inside.

"Oh wow, this looks like it could be where the Three Bears lived," Sakura's eyes lit up looking at the décor of the room, the furniture was made of pine, covered in animal furs sewn together. A fire was lit in the fireplace, which Sakura assumed to be lit all the time. From the ceiling hung a chandelier made out of deer antlers with candles lit, it reminded her of something Shikamaru would have at his house. Above the mantle hung a painting of two deer walking through a meadow and below that sat strange trinkets that had been obtained on various travels. To the side was a large buck's head looking over the room, and below that Sakura noticed a very handsome boy about her age sitting in a chair doing some sort of puzzle on paper. He had hair about the same length of hers only it was a light shade of brown and his skin was tan from the time he spent outdoors, he looked up startled, "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there."

"My name is Akito," The boy walked over to Sasori and Sakura and held out his hand to shake Sasori's, which Sasori just glared at and then gave the boy a curt nod. He didn't seem phased by the ex-Suna-nin's actions, he smiled kindly at Sakura instead, "I am the owner of this here inn, would you like to rent a room?"

"Yes, we're interested in one for the night," Sasori said flatly, Sakura was surprised at his actions and tone, normally his manners were pretty good. Then again, he wasn't very nice to her either when they had first met, bet then again those were totally different circumstances. _'Ugh, he only wants to rent one room, guess I'm stuck with him tossing and turning all night long again.'_

Akito walked behind the front desk and took one of the keys off a notch, handing it to Sakura, completely ignoring the red-haired man standing beside her. "It's the best room in the house, Miss, I hope you enjoy your stay here."

Sakura smiled, it was nice talking to someone normal for a change, at least he seemed normal compared to the Akatsuki members, "Let's go, Sakura."

Sasori was already headed towards the stairs, "I'm going to stay and talk to Akito, you go on ahead." The missing-nin arched an eyebrow in suspicion, but then turned back and climbed the stairs, "Suit yourself."

* * *

"So you're a ninja? Impressive," Sakura was sitting opposite the innkeeper on the couch, she was showing him her headband. In reality it probably wasn't a good idea, seeing as they were in Sound territory, but Akito seemed harmless, "We don't get many of them around here, it's usually just traveling merchants."

"Really? That's surprising, I would have thought you would have more seeing as we're so close to Otogakura," Sakura tied her headband back on her head, feeling one of Sasori's that was tied to a lock of her pink hair brush against her hand, she might as well put them to use, it wasn't like he was going to wear them again, at least she hoped not, "So is that man your partner? You two are wearing the same style clothing."

"Yes, and I must apologize for his rudeness earlier, normally he's very polite."

"Don't worry about it, no offense taken or anything. And thanks for staying behind to chat with me, I rarely get to socialize with anyone, especially not someone as beautiful as you, Sakura-san," Akito smiled warmly at Sakura, causing her to flush bright red, "Th-thank you, Akito-san."

The two of them conversed well into the night, they had skipped dinner as they talked about various things, most of them the adventures Sakura had experienced. Akito found the battle against Zabuza Momochi and Haku the most exciting of all of them all. She had left out her first encounter with Sasori though, it would probably confuse him with all the details, plus she would have to reveal that she was with the Akatsuki.

"So what's your relationship with your friend, are you two—"

"No!" Sakura blushed, "It's nothing like that."

"Oh," Akito smiled again, he seemed to do a lot of that, "He seems sort of cold, you deserve better, Sakura-san."

Sakura returned a smile; she tried to make it look as sincere as possible. Sure, Akito was nice and kind, but just exactly what he was getting at…Well Sakura didn't think it was just his kindness talking, "Well, he comes off as sorta aloof, but he means well, I think." It never really occurred to her that Sasori could just be toying with her.

Speaking of which, the missing-nin could be heard descending down the staircase and into view as he entered the room which Sakura and Akito were sitting. His hair was wet and he was wearing the same sleeping yukata that he had let Sakura borrow a few nights previous, "Sakura, it's time you go to bed."

"What are you, her father?" Akito snarled at Sasori, his kindness had vanished into thin air.

Sasori arched an eyebrow; he probably wasn't used to people challenging him, "Pardon?"

"You heard me! Sakura-san can do whatever she wants; she doesn't need you to boss her around. She can make her own decisions." The innkeeper was standing in front of Sasori, glaring into his red eyes with his own grey. "You should treat her better, she deserves respect."

"Listen little boy, I didn't ask for your opinion," Sasori glared right back into Akito's eyes, his normal, calm demeanor had been thrown out the window, "Sakura and I have a long mission ahead of us, unlike you we have things to do and places to see."

"Who are you calling 'little boy'?!" Akito poked Sasori's chest with his finger. "You're only a few years older than me!"

"What do you mean I'm 'only a few years older', I'm about twenty years your senior, little boy."

"Yeah right, you don't look a day over twenty, and that's pushing it."

"Looks can be deceiving."

Sakura's head turned from Sasori and then to Akito as they continued to insult each other. It was almost comical watching them bicker; if she wasn't staying with Sasori she was sure that Akito would have thrown him out. She hadn't seen Sasori so angry in a long time but that didn't surprise her as much as how Akito was acting, Sakura would have never dreamed that he could get so worked up, but then again, he was defending his pride.

"That's it. Sakura, bed. _Now_."

* * *

The pink-haired kunoichi chucked a pillow at Sasori, drying her wet hair, "You didn't have to start an argument, Akito welcomed us as guests, you're so rude."

He placed the pillow back on the bed, pulled back the covers and climbed in. "The little twerp was asking for it, no one bosses me around, especially not some kid."

Sakura frowned, the Scorpion was certainly acting immature, especially for his age that he had defended so diligently. He wasn't mad; he was furious, furious over absolutely nothing. Maybe he just didn't like being challenged by someone her age that barely even knew him. Sakura threw aside the covers on her side of the bed and laid down, her back to him, "You should apologize."

"For what? I didn't do anything to him; he just decided to get all defensive over you. What happened, are you two now an item or something?" He spat, looking down at her.

"Of course not, that's ridiculous," What did he care anyways? "Akito and I are only acquaintances."

Sasori laid down, his own back facing hers, "Whatever."

* * *

"Thank you for your hospitality, Akito-san," Sakura bowed in appreciation. Sasori on the other hand was pretending not to pay any attention, his facial expression looked somewhat disgusted, "We really appreciate it."

"No problem, Sakura-san, anytime." Akito bowed as well for Sakura, not for Sasori, "I enjoyed chatting with you, good luck on your mission."

"I'll see you again soon, okay?" Sakura and Sasori turned their backs to him and walked off towards the rising sun in the east.

He watched until they were out of view and then his personality completely changed. He had a maniacal look on his face, "That's right Sakura Haruno, I _will_ see you soon. Much sooner than you would expect…"

* * *

The two of them were walking through, what seemed like, an endless rice paddy. The murky water was up past their white stockings, weighing them down slightly as they continued on. _'This has got to be the worst feeling in the world'_, Sakura frowned, she hated wearing soaked clothing, it was so uncomfortable. The sun overhead was beating down on them, the thick black material of their robes made the heat unbearable, luckily they had their sakkats to block some of the rays. "Are you _ever_ going to tell me what our mission is? I bet we'll be attacked and taken hostage by enemy ninja and then you'll be all 'oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that our mission was to—"

"Our mission is to assassinate the Otokage," Sasori turned to face her. "Leader has given us such a difficult task to test your abilities, I'm assuming."

"Otokage? Does that mean we're going to assassinate Orochimaru? I thought he didn't consider himself a Kage."

"Due to Orochimaru's current condition, he does not show himself to his people. Instead he placed Daisuke Shinozuka in his place and manipulates him from behind the scenes," That sounded like Orochimaru, he loved pulling people's strings to control them to do his dirty work. "Won't Orochimaru be in the area; won't he come to the Otokage's rescue?"

Sasori snickered, "Orochimaru would never save anyone but himself, he'll just replace Shinozuka. I expect him to be no where near Otogakura; it's too obvious for him to hide there. Plus it's rather secluded so his henchman, Kabuto, wouldn't be able to get the supplies necessary to keep Orochimaru comfortable in the state that he is now."

* * *

They continued walking in silence. Sakura had gone on assassination missions before, but she never could have dreamed that she would be on an assignment to take down such a powerful opponent. Sasori was with her but even so; could they really take down the Otokage? It wasn't like he was going to be alone either; the two of them would have to take down all the shinobi guarding him. That probably wouldn't be too difficult but it might take a toll on them, making it so that they weren't at their full-potential when they reached Shinozuka.

The two members had been walking for hours; at this rate it would be dark before they reached Otogakura which, when she thought about it, would probably be a good thing. The darkness would provide cover as they infiltrated the village for the assassination attempt. Sakura and Sasori needed to be as stealthy as possible. Unlike how Konoha had been when Sasori kidnapped Sakura, Otogakura was going to be on its absolute highest defense level.

Sakura reached into her shuriken holster, she hadn't brought as many throwing weapons as she had thought. She felt about four kunai and three shuriken, she didn't even have any senbon, _'So much for being prepared'_. Sasori did say to pack light, but he was probably referring to the amount of clothing and food that she brought, not her weapons. It was going to be rather embarrassing if he yelled at her for not having enough kunai or something during their battle with the Otokage, she could totally picture him doing that too.

The wind was picking up, the temperature was dropping and the water that Sasori and Sakura were walking through seemed to be getting colder. Their cloaks were heavy enough to keep them warm, but because of the cool water Sakura was shivering. Their breath was visible from the cold, it was expected to be like this as it was almost October, but Sakura wished the weather could have waited for them to finish their mission. "It's freezing out here, are we there yet?"

"Does it _look _like we're there yet? Do you see villages or something, because all I seem to see is _rice_." His attitude hinted that he was cold as well and wanted nothing more than to get the mission over with, "It shouldn't be much longer, actually. I expect we'll reach Oto in about an hour or so."

* * *

Sasori was right, in a little less than an hour's time the gate to the Hidden Village was in sight. The only thing she could think about was getting the stupid mission over with, even though she probably should have been concentrating on exactly how they were going to take down the Otokage, but she'd leave Sasori up to that, after all, he was her _sempai._

The ex-Suna-nin had her follow him into a grove of trees; they were perched on two different limbs of an old Norway maple, Sakura on the branch above Sasori. They both could see the contents of the village, it was rather small, which surprised Sakura, she was expecting something much more grand and spectacular, but then again she didn't think Orochimaru was much of an architectural designer. She looked down at Sasori, whom was carefully observing the layout of the village, trying to find the easiest way to enter the village and avoid the most guards. He was much more experienced in the art of infiltration than she was, "Are you ready?"

The two of them darted into the village; they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, their objective the large estate to the northern part. It took a moment for the Oto guards to realize they had two trespassers, in the dark the only distinguishable features of the two were their hair colors and the red clouds on their robes. They moved so quickly the human eyes of the guards could barely see them; they were two blurs in the darkness.

Adrenaline rushed through Sakura's veins; this was her chance to prove herself to the organization, to Pein, and to her partner, Sasori. Screwing up was not an option. She mimicked Sasori's movements as she followed him as they headed towards the Otokage Estate. He was so fast she could barely keep up with him. "We have to pick some of them off," he called back to her. Sakura put on the brakes, whirled around and faced about twenty guards, armed and dangerous.

She wanted to look back at Sasori so he could tell her what exactly they were going to do, but if she did she'd be a goner. The two of them had only worked against each other and now they were about to take on a small battalion of enemy ninja, how were they supposed to support each other if they barely knew the other's battle style?

Eyes narrowed, Sakura was ready to make the first move against the twenty-some-odd guards, but as she reached for a kunai she found that she couldn't move. Panicking, she cocked her head just enough to see out of the corner of her eye blue chakra strings sprouting out of Sasori's fingers, "Don't struggle, just relax."

Sasori's fingers moved furiously as he pulled on the strings that connected to Sakura's body. He had to move his own entire body in order control her, and if Sakura hadn't been flying towards the guards against her will she would have thought he was doing some kind of strange dance.

Sakura darted back and forth, up and down, slashing her opponents with a kunai that Sasori had made her pull out of her holster. She was moving at a speed that she didn't even know she could reach; Sasori really was a skilled puppet master.

Slitting the throat of one of the men, Sakura dropped the kunai and grabbed the dead man's leg, swinging him around and knocking over several of the remaining guards. She snatched the kunai from where it had fallen and thrust it into one of the fallen's heart. Her fist crushed another's ribcage, and to her horror her hand penetrated the man's skin, tore out his heart, crushed it with her fist, causing blood to gush all over her hand and trail down her arm, and then threw it aside.

Blood rained down on the kunoichi and her attackers' corpses, never in her wildest dreams had Sakura imagined that she could fight the way she was, all thanks to the madman who was controlling her.

Her tired arms fell to her sides, the battle had been won. It was hard to look at what she had done, blood soaked the streets and bodies lay with vital organs ripped out of them. She looked down at her hands, they were stained with blood, the one that had ripped the heart out's entire arm was covered in it. Nausea overcame her, she vomited, the small massacre that she had created was too much for her. How could this have happened? How could she have caused it? But then she remembered the man behind the scenes, Sasori's true personality had surfaced again.

A part of her had thought that he wasn't really that bad, that he wasn't the cold-blooded murderer everyone had made him out to be, but there he was, sitting atop a chimney, calm and collected. Her vision of him had probably changed forever, even though it was herself that had done the dirty work. He wasn't just a murderer, he was a _psychopath_.

"We should get going, there will be more here soon," Sasori said, completely unaffected by the sight in front of him. How could he just sit there? How could he just act like none of that had just happened? _'He's probably so used to it, he probably does that to all of his enemies…'_

To her horror, she realized that when she had fought him she could have suffered the same fate as any one of the men she had murdered. What if it had been her organs that had been torn out and cast aside? Plus it had just been her and Chiyo; he would have more time to make her suffer, to dissect her body, to completely destroy her.

* * *

Sakura tried to push the images that were flashing through her mind out of her head as the two of them continued along. When she got back to Akatsuki Headquarters or whatever structure they came across with running water she was going to wash her hands until the skin on them was numb from scrubbing.

"This is it," Sasori called back, jumping through one of the windows of the Otokage's mansion, smashing the window pane. She followed suit landing in an office room, suffering less damages then Sasori, who had just yanked out a large piece of glass that was stuck in his shoulder blade. "Sasori-san, let me heal your—"

"No, we have to get moving," He was bleeding heavily, his robe had been torn around the area where the glass had pierced him and Sakura could see that the heavy black material was soaked, it must have been a much deeper wound than it appeared on the surface.

Sasori opened the door and stepped out, motioning for her to follow him. They ran silently down a long corridor, flinging open the doors they came across as they went, but the Otokage wasn't in any of them. "Where is he?"

"I'm right here," Sakura froze; a kunai was at her throat, millimeters away from slicing into it. The man wore similar clothing as the Third Hokage did, the true Kage uniform, except the hat he wore didn't have the same kanji inscribed on it as Tsunade's, instead it read 'Oto'. Her eyes diverted themselves over to Sasori, who was his usual calm self, "Akasuna no Sasori, long time no see, you're looking well, not a day older than from when I last saw you."

"Long story behind that, Daisuke," Sasori ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. It was a good thing one of them was calm, because Sakura was in panic mode, "It's a story for another day, shame you'll never see it."

Daisuke Shinozuka opened his mouth to say something but instead of words he coughed up blood all over Sakura's shoulder. The clone before him vanished into thin air as he turned to see the real Sasori standing behind him. A kunai was lodged in the back of his neck, its tip protruding from the other side, "You're certainly not as skilled as you used to be, falling for a simple trick like that, pathetic. Orochimaru was a fool to appoint you to such a position."

The Otokage fell against Sakura who jumped forward, letting him land on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Sasori was right, he did look pathetic, "That was too easy, something's not right here." Sakura said, turning the corpse over with her foot.

"Sakura, move!" It was too late, Sakura glanced down to see her own shadow clutching her ankle as it began to drag her down into a black pit that was supposed to be the rest of it. Sasori grabbed her outstretched hand and yanked it, but to no avail. She was sinking into the floor boards. He turned back to the Otokage, and is eyes widened as the corpse was no longer a corpse, it was just a pile of old bones, "That wasn't Shinozuka, this is one of Orochimaru's traps!"

"Sasori, do something!" Sakura's head was just barely visible; the rest of her body had been consumed by the black abyss. He pulled on her arm again but she just continued to sink further and further until she was no longer visible. The hole closed up just as Sasori attempted to descend down into it, "Ugh, Orochimaru, wait until I get my hands on you. Don't worry Sakura, I'll get you back."

**A/N: Hurray, another chapter finished. I have to fix the first one, there's some formatting problems. Anywho, that was the first real battle I've ever written, I suppose it could have been worse. It was short, but there was blood, yay blood! And Sasori's vowed to rescue Sakura, how noble of him. xD I hope it's getting better, even though there was no Kisame or Hidan or really any SakuXSaso yet, but don't worry, there will be. R & R, please and thank you. Oh, and Akito's going to become a pretty vital character, by the way.**


	7. Better Late Than Never

**Chapter Seven: Better Late Than Never**

"Uhnn…" Her head dipped up and down as she slowly regained consciousness. The only thing she could tell for sure was that she was sitting in some wooden chair. Soaked hair fell over her face, particles of dirt and rocks were caked in among the tangles. She slumped over, some of her skin was raw and her robes were torn, she must have been dragged for quite a distance. Opening one eye, her blurred vision could only see so much, but she managed to pick out the source of light in the room, dozens of candles lined the walls. The room stank of mold and dead, decaying animals, Sakura could pick out these scents even in her current state. "…Where am I?"

Her senses somewhat returned to her and her eyes opened just enough, standing before her was—"Ugh, not you, anyone but you."

"What's that supposed to mean, Sakura Haruno?" Kabuto leaned over and patted her on the head. Sakura squirmed in the chair she was seated in, "Don't bother, you're not going anywhere."

Sakura's feet and arms had been strapped to the chair with thick leather bindings, normally she could easily break them, but not in her current state. Kabuto must have drugged her with something, her head was fuzzy and her movements slowed; hopefully she would recover from its effects soon, although it wasn't likely, he wasn't stupid, blindly loyal yes, stupid no. "What could _you_ possibly want with me? This isn't some sick bondage—"

"Don't flatter yourself, Sakura," Kabuto's nose wrinkled in disgust, "It's not me who needs you, it's Orochimaru-sama."

"Ugh, _he's_ the one into bondage? I thought he was only interested in little boys," If Sakura's brain could function correctly she wouldn't be saying things like that.

"Maybe I gave you a tad too much of that," Kabuto scratched his head, sliding his glasses further up his nose with his other hand. It was just his luck to be stuck babysitting her, _'Orochimaru-sama better hurry up.'_

"Uhnn… What does Orochimaru want with me?" She flopped her head onto the back of the chair to get a better look at him, "And where's Sasori-san?"

"You'll see soon enough what Orochimaru-sama wants with you, if you think hard enough you can figure it out on your own. Your brain has got to be rather large with that huge forehead of your's—ouch!" Sakura had managed to hop in the chair right onto Kabuto's foot, "What the hell was that for?"

"For being an asshole, now where's Sasori-san?" The last thing she remembered was him trying to pull her out of that shadow-hole genjutsu. If she hadn't been caught off guard she could have easily dispelled it, but at the time she was in such a panic she didn't realize what it was, "If you don't tell me I'm going to step on your foot again."

"I have no idea where Sasori-sama is, obviously we weren't going to capture him as well, he would foil our plan for sure," Was he going to inform her on what the stupid plan was or was he going to do a Sasori and mention it a hundred times before he told her?

"It doesn't matter, he'll rescue me anyways," Sakura wasn't so sure about that, but if she said it a couple times maybe he would. After all, Leader wouldn't be too happy if he had to find Sasori another partner because he had already lost his new one. "And _then_ your little plan will be foiled."

Kabuto smirked, he looked pretty confident in the fact that Sasori wasn't going to even be able to _find_ her, let alone rescue her, "You just keep thinking that, Sakura Haruno."

* * *

"You came all the way back here just to tell us that?! What are you, some kind of stupid?!" Kisame was furious, how could he be such an idiot? "She's in danger, Sasori. She's your partner; it should be _your_ job to rescue her."

"Don't you think I would have done that if I could have?!" Sasori snapped, just as furious at Kisame as he was at him, "I don't even know where Orochimaru could be, it would have been a wild goose chase, and if we all search _together_ we might be able to find her."

Hidan, Itachi, and Tobi watched the two of them argue over Sasori's responsibility as Sakura's partner. If one of them didn't step in soon it was going to be an all out brawl. "Would you two shut the fuck up?!"

Kisame and Sasori's heads turned to face the three of them, they were wasting time, and it had already been four days since Sakura had been kidnapped from her kidnappers.

This time it was Itachi who spoke up, "Orochimaru isn't foolish enough to take Sakura to his main hideout, and he knows that if we did find him there he would be forced to abandon it. Most likely Sakura, Orochimaru and his henchman are at one of the old hideouts. Judging by the jutsu that Sasori explained to us, Sakura couldn't have been taken too far."

It had only been four days since Sakura had been kidnapped from her kidnappers. That meant she was still most likely somewhere in Rice Country, Itachi's idea seemed reasonable enough. But there was something bothering Sasori, "I don't understand how Orochimaru could even have known that we were anywhere near the area, we didn't even come across anyone except for—that brat!"

Sakura had conversed with the innkeeper, Akito for hours; she had probably informed him of the mission details. Sasori made a mental note that when they got Sakura back, safe and sound, he was going to yell at her until she got it through her skull that you don't just go spilling Akatsuki's plan of attack to everyone you come across, "We should go."

* * *

Kakashi Hatake stood in front of the memorial stone, running a finger over the names of comrades he had lost in battle. It was part of his daily routine, rain or shine. Today he wasn't alone though, beside him stood Naruto Uzumaki.

The atmosphere around them seemed so solemn, as if one of their own had just passed away and they were visiting their grave. They weren't dressed in black but they might has well have been, their teammate was missing and although they were sure it wasn't the case, in the back of their head they knew that there was a chance that she wasn't going to make it back alive.

"Kakashi-sensei, will Sakura's name be inscribed on here if she doesn't return?" He barely spoke above a whisper, although she had only been gone for a couple days it seemed like ages. She was with the most dangerous organization in the world, the chance of her returning to them was very slim, and they both knew it although they wouldn't admit to it.

The copy-nin touched a blank spot on the stone, Sakura's name would be engraved in that spot if she didn't come back to them, "…I hope not Naruto, I hope not."

* * *

Sasori led them through a dense forest area, it was his mission that got her into this mess and it was his duty as her partner to bring her back, he was also the oldest of them all which made him the natural leader. They were making a lot of noise, jumping from tree to tree, breaking old, rotten branches off and rustling the leaves as they went. Tobi had already fallen to the ground several times due to weak tree limbs. But it didn't matter, even if someone spotted them. No one messed with Akatsuki.

The five of them had been traveling for about four hours at their maximum speed. Their chakra and brute strength would be diminished to about half of each of their full potential, but since they were only up against two shinobi, it wouldn't be a problem. Sasori didn't know why all of them had to come, he was only expecting Kisame to assist him in bringing Sakura back, but they had all volunteered, even Itachi. They probably figured that if Leader found out that Sasori had lost her they'd have to find another sacrifice to bring him back from the dead.

Each of them knew that there was the chance that Sakura was already dead, she could have refused to do whatever Orochimaru had intended which would result in certain death. On the other hand, if she had already done what ever he wanted then there was a chance that she had been disposed of. The possibility of her still being alive was slim to none, but Sasori didn't care, he would make Orochimaru pay either way.

It was a different way that they were going; Sasori had intentionally taken the highroad before with Sakura so they wouldn't have to waste all their strength like they were doing now. Through the trees and brush would take them a few hours longer, but that way they were more likely to avoid conflict. Any Sound shinobi in their right mind would know that five men, dressed in matching outfits, running at top speed along some dirt road would figure out that something was up and inform Orochimaru.

But Orochimaru would probably know that they were coming anyways. He probably knew that Akatsuki wouldn't just abandon their new member; they would do anything within their power to bring her back. Then again, he probably didn't expect that half the organization was coming to her rescue.

* * *

An hour later they took off running through the same rice paddy Sasori and Sakura had crossed a few days prior. They splashed muddy water all over their robes as they ran; the swamp was even higher than it had been due to the previous night's rainfall. Their already heavy robes were weighing them down now that they were soaked with water, slowing them down considerably.

"Do we even have a fucking plan about how we're going to go about infiltrating the fucking hideout?" Hidan called out to the four ninja in front of him, he was bringing up the rear since if he was attacked it wouldn't really matter seeing how he was immortal, "There are going to be fucking traps all over the place, especially now that that bastard Kabuto's going to be there. We'll be setting off fucking genjutsu left and right."

"Sasori, we're going to have to head east, that's the farthest hideout in the area that's away from Oto, it's likely that they'll be there," Itachi shouted out to the others. Orochimaru had about five hideouts in the area, all well hidden from view, so it was only a one in five chance that he'd be there.

The rice paddy finally ended and they were now running through a corn field, with its stalks so high that they could barely see the tops of their comrades' heads. The team was moving much faster now that they didn't have to wade through the murky water; their robes were still heavy with it though.

* * *

"This is it, huh?" The five of them peered down into the cave's entrance, "We're never going to be able to find our way around in there."

Kisame was right; they would be roaming around in the dark making them much more susceptible to traps. Orochimaru was smart to have picked this particular hideout, it was pitch-black in there, they'd never find their way around not to mention it was hidden away by the lush forest surrounding them, they had a hard time even finding it. "It won't be hard; we'll light some old dead branches on fire with Itachi's help which will make it easier to navigate."

"Tobi wants to help, Tobi will gather the branches!" Sasori started to protest but Tobi took off before he could say anything. He was back within three minutes, "Tobi helped, Tobi helped!"

Each of them held a lit branch; it had taken them awhile to light them since they were wet from the rain.

"Alright, I'll go first." Sasori didn't even bother climbing down, he just jumped. Lucky for him the cave wasn't more than about twelve feet deep, "Okay, let's go."

* * *

"Well, can't say I wasn't expecting this," The team had come to a fork in the road, one tunnel led one way, one lead the other, "So we have to split up, I call not having Tobi in my group."

"Yeah I'll go with Kisame, you two bastards can be stuck with him," Hidan motioned for Kisame to follow him through the tunnel on the left. When they were out of sight, Sasori turned to the others, "Very well, let's get going."

* * *

"Hey look! It's Sakura!" Kisame pointed to the pink-haired kunoichi standing before them, she was smiling and waving at the two. The shark man started to walk towards her but the vulgar, silver haired shinobi yanked back on his robes. "It's an illusion, fucktard. Do you really think Orochimaru would just let the slut have free reign of the place?"

He scratched his head, he never thought of that. He wouldn't ever admit it but it was a good thing Hidan was with him, even though it was usually him that didn't think things through before he acted.

The illusion of Sakura before them's eyes began to glow red. Her body began twisting and mutating until it formed a large serpent. "Oh geeze, what a surprise. Who would have guessed we would run into a _snake_? Orochimaru's just so original."

* * *

The other group had already come across a pit of snakes, a large boulder that threw them off the path that they were taking as it rolled after them, and a Sakura illusion that attempted to lure them off track. Typical traps that were rather clichéd, if Kisame was with them the three of them would have agreed on his comment about Orochimaru's originality.

Sasori stopped, something wasn't right. "Do you smell that?"

"I don't smell anything," Itachi shrugged.

"Tobi doesn't smell anything either."

"That's just it; it doesn't smell like sulfur and death anymore, it doesn't smell like anything."

He was right, the two other shinobi sniffed the air, well at least Itachi did, Tobi's face was hidden behind his orange mask so for all they knew he could have been crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out at the two of them. "So what does that mean? That rotten stench couldn't have just disappeared."

"It must be some sort of trick, but if it was genjutsu my Sharingan would have been able to see right through it." Itachi's blindness had progressed but he still could dispel such techniques. "Then again, maybe they want us to think it's a trick to throw us off."

Whatever it was, it didn't harm them, they just continued on until—"Okay, now they're trying to throw us off, there is no way that this dank cave could smell like _cherry blossoms_," Sasori said, very sarcastically. "Maybe we are going the wrong way; maybe we should have followed that Sakura imposter. Orochimaru could have assumed that we wouldn't follow her, and now he's leading us astray with this scent."

Regardless, they continued on.

* * *

"Oh wow, it smells like cherry blossoms, we must be getting close!" Hidan rolled his eyes at Kisame's remark; maybe he should have gone with Tobi. "Do you really think that the slut's scent would be _that_ strong, or travel _this_ far? You'd have to fucking be sniffing her to get this sorta affect."

"I suppose you're right," Kisame looked up at the ceiling as if he was thinking hard on the subject, "So what do we do?"

"_You_ can do what ever you fucking want, _I'm_ fucking going on, no way am I fucking turning around now," Hidan was right, by the time they were able to go on the same path the others had taken they would already be there, that is if Sakura was even in the cave.

* * *

"Are you serious right now?" Hidan and Kisame stood facing Sasori, Itachi, and Tobi. "We split up just to end up back together?"

"No sign of her?" Sasori asked, already knowing the answer, "Guess we just keep going from here."

"Did you guys run into any of Orochimaru's pathetic traps?" It was true, so far they hadn't run into anything a genin couldn't dispel, either Orochimaru was losing his touch or he just hadn't had enough time to set anything more sinister up. "Yeah, a couple of them, some of them very clichéd."

They continued on together, it was very foolish of Orochimaru to have the two tunnels rejoin, now instead of half the team he would have to face all of them. He was probably too confident in his abilities at the time he designed the layout of the cave.

"Oh, oh pick Tobi! Pick Tobi!" The orange masked ninja hopped up and down, his arm raised. None of them really made a reaction, except Hidan who rolled his eyes; they were all pretty used to him acting like that. "What is it Tobi?"

"Tobi can tell Sakura is getting close! Tobi can!"

"That's a good boy Tobi, sniff her out." Tobi continued to jump up and down repeating 'Tobi is a good boy' before he bent over and started sniffing the ground like a dog; at least they assumed he was sniffing. "I didn't mean actually sniff her out Tobi, but whatever floats your boat."

* * *

If Sakura wasn't strapped to a chair and Kabuto wasn't under strict orders one of them would have killed the other by now. They had argued over everything from Orochimaru to the scent of the room/Kabuto's housekeeping to how uncomfortable the chair was that Sakura was sitting on. "Ugh, would you shut up, little girl?!"

"Hey man, only Sasori-san can call me that, you can refer to me as 'your honorable self'," Sakura didn't know why she kept defending her captor, but continued to do so anyways. "Just wait, he'll tear you limb from limb, you must have seen the massacre he left in your village's streets."

Kabuto's patience was growing very thin, luckily for him, his master had just arrived.

"_Sakura-chan_…long time no see," The snake Sannin hissed, stepping into the candlelight. "How honored we are to have you present with us…"

His henchman opened his mouth to retort on how Orochimaru hadn't had to listen to her whine but decided that probably wasn't a good idea, "Orochimaru-sama, I haven't informed her of her purpose yet."

Sakura's jade eyes were wide with fear, she was terrified. She had been badmouthing the man in front of her for hours but now that he was here it was just like how it had been in the Forest of Death. She was so scared she wanted to cry, she was shaking so much that the chair was shuttering along with her. Never had she been so afraid for her life, in the Forest his objective had been Sasuke, but now that his attention was on her it made things a thousand times worse. She couldn't even ask what her 'purpose' was, as much as she wanted to. Even if she moved her mouth to try and form words no sound would come out. All that Sakura could think about was how horrified she was of this man.

"You look as though you've seen a ghost, Sakura-chan," Orochimaru ran a white finger along her cheek, adding to her fear level that was already well past its limits. The smirk on his face told her that he was getting a kick out of torturing her like that. "Now Sakura-chan, you can't be afraid, you won't be able to accomplish the task at hand."

Again with the task, couldn't they just hurry up and tell her what it was? She just wanted to get it over with, whatever it was. Managing to raise her courage gauge a few notches higher she stuttered, just like Hinata would have done if she was talking to Naruto, "W-what what do you w-want with m-me, O-Orochimaru?"

"It's not what I want Sakura-chan, it's what you're going to do." His smirk turned into a maniacal grin, "You don't have a choice in the matter, refuse and you lose your life, as well as your precious Sasori's."

Sakura wanted to protest that the ex-Suna-nin was definitely not her 'precious Sasori', but she was so scared she couldn't form the words. _'I'm going to die here, even if I do what he wants or needs or whatever, I'll never be able to see Naruto or Ino or any of them again. I'll never be able to see Kisame, Hidan, Tobi, or even Itachi ever again. I'll never be able to see Sasori again…'_

Her attention averted itself from Orochimaru to why exactly she had separated Sasori's name from the rest of the Akatsuki members that she was friends with. It didn't last long though, because Orochimaru was starting to laugh, or rather cackle like some witch stirring the contents of her cauldron, "Are you ready for me to release you, _Sakura-chan_?"

Orochimaru formed a seal and the leather bindings fell limp, allowing Sakura to move freely, except she couldn't. She tried, but she couldn't even move a muscle, it wasn't from the drugs but from terror, "Stand up, girl."

Sakura obeyed, it was surprising that she was even able to, her legs felt weak and she was shaking rather violently. "And now," Orochimaru's grin widened. "You're going to heal my arms."

Sakura reached out timidly, pulling back a couple times before placing her own hands on his. Her hands were shaking so much that she had to actually grab a hold of his, making her quiver even more. She started to release blue, cooling, healing chakra into his arms, but then she was interrupted.

"Sorry we're late," Kisame's booming voice echoed off the cave walls, all five Akatsuki members stood before Sakura, the Sannin, and his henchman. Sakura had never noticed how mismatched they all looked until she saw them there standing in a line; they really were a peculiar bunch. "Hold it right there, Orochimaru,"

"I'm not moving, _Kisame Hoshigake_." Orochimaru hissed, technically he was already 'holding it', "So you've all come, like moths to the flame."

If the tension in the room hadn't been so high one of the men would have made a comment on how cliché Orochimaru was, "Of course we came, you fuck with the slut, you fuck with us."

Sakura was touched by Hidan's comment, even though he had just called her a 'slut', but then again she was pretty used to it. She probably would have said something but she was too frightened, even though the five of them had come to her rescue.

Orochimaru let out a hissing noise; it wasn't because he was moved by the comment, but because he was signaling the man who had been concealing his chakra.

"I've missed you, Sakura-san," the innkeeper stepped out from the shadows, his clothing was much different than before. His hair was different, instead of just being loose around his neck it was in long spikes that formed a frill around the back of his head. Two strands were left hanging down in front; the one on the left was braided. He had been wearing rather plain clothing when she saw him last, now he was dressed in clothing made for battle, which meant he wasn't just there as a welcoming committee. "Did you miss me, my dear little cherry blossom?"

He walked over behind her and stroked her hair gently, "There there, you can relax now, Akito is here."

"Akito? Akito Kurosuki, brother of _Raiga Kurosuki_?" Kisame asked, shocked.

"You two know each other?" Itachi asked, unmoved.

"Yeah, _Raiga_ Kurosuki was a member of The Seven Swordsmen just like me, _Akito_ Kurosuki was his younger brother but he mysteriously vanished right before I left Kirigakura."

Akito Kurosuki gently kissed Sakura's bare shoulder where her robe had been torn away, exposing her skin, before turning to face Kisame, "That's right, and here I am, alive and well. I left Kiri when I was only ten years old to join the village that I had heard about that was just coming into power, Otogakura."

"Even if you are with Orochimaru, that's three against five, Sasori's red eyes narrowed, his hatred was already at a high level for this man but it was continuing to grow even higher, "You would have to be fools to challenge us."

"He is right, Akito," The Sound-nin's grin turned to a frown, he looked over to Orochimaru for orders, but he had already vanished, leaving a cloud of smoke behind. Akito turned back to Sakura, "Don't worry, my love. I'll be back for you soon." He turned Sakura around so that she faced him. Lifting her chin up with his finger he could see the fear in her jade eyes. He let out a soft chuckle and pressed his lips against hers.

"Get away from her!" Sasori bolted from where he stood, pushing Sakura aside, slashing a kunai through the air where Akito had been moments before. He had vanished along with Kabuto, who had just been standing behind everyone, staying out of all the commotion. The Scorpion's red eyes were filled with rage; he was breathing heavily clutching the kunai in his hand so tightly his knuckles were white, "Bastard…"

**A/N: Huzzah! Another chapter finished. I'm pretty proud of myself, at the rate that I'm going I'll be able to finish a chapter a day. I know the whole chapter was pretty clichéd, just like Orochimaru, with the whole Sakura healing Orochimaru's arms and all. Sasori finally showed a minor bit of…well I don't think I could call it 'love' yet. Akito on the other hand… Oh, and I love Raiga Kurosuki, not as much as Zabuza though, that's why I used him as Akito's brother. He won't be obsessed with funerals but I'll try to make him into a psychopath.**

In Communist Russia, Fanfiction reviews you!


	8. Halcyon Days

I hope you're all in the holiday spirit. .

**Chapter Eight: Halcyon Days**

_The sun was shining and the sky was clear, the weather was perfect, much better than it had been for a long time. Her friends lined the pews, smiling as she passed them. There was Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke to her right and there was Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru to her left. As she continued on she passed Itachi, Hidan, Kisame, and Tobi. Her long white gown was perfect, very expensive and made of the finest material._

_The whole wedding was perfect; she hadn't seen some of the people there in a long time. It was the happiest day of Sakura Haruno's life, nothing could go wrong. She turned from looking at her guests to the white alter before her; there was her future husband to be. His back was to her, but he was easily distinguishable by his crimson hair, Sakura's heart seemed to skip a few beats as she approached him, getting closer and closer._

_She stood next to him, listening as the two of them vowed to love each other 'til death did they part. He still hadn't faced her, but that would be fixed in a minute, after all, the big ending was only seconds away._

_Tears of happiness streaked her face and she turned to her red-headed groom for him to remove her veil from her face and seal the promise that they had just made to each other. She smiled as he turned to kiss her, but to her horror it wasn't Sasori it was—_

"Orochimaru!" Sakura screamed, bolting up in bed. "He's—he's—"She was sobbing again, her whole body shaking. It wasn't the first time she had woken up to a horrible nightmare featuring the Sannin, but she had never made such a reaction before. Usually she just woke up, told herself it was just a dream, and then fell back asleep. Now she was soaked with sweat, crying her eyes out over a dream.

"Hnn, whassamatter?" The Scorpion sat up beside her, blinking so his eyes could adjust. He smacked his lips a couple times, yawned, turned to go back to sleep, and then noticed the kunoichi next to him was in hysterics. "Sakura?—"

Sakura flung her arms around his neck, crying onto his shoulder. He blinked a few more times, unsure about what just had happened.

'_Why me?' _Sasori was never good at comforting people, he felt rather out of place at funerals because of it, but now he had some girl, in bed with him, wailing on his shoulder over some bad dream.

'_Okay stay calm, Sasori…First step is to…'_ He wrapped his arms gently around her, sorta patting her on her back, _'And uh…next is…uh…'_

"It'll be okay Sakura, Orochimaru is far, far away, you don't need to fret. Besides, I'm here…I'll uh…protect you," The last part came out as more of a question then a comfort, either way he couldn't believe he had just said it, but he couldn't believe even more was that he _meant it_. "Look, Sakura, if you stop crying uh…I'll buy you a pony!"

'_Oh great, good going Sasori. Now you're going to be picking up horseshit for the next twenty years.'_

"W-will you r-really do that?" Sakura sniffed, tears still falling from her eyes. Jade eyes met his own red ones, it was a good thing that hers were blurred over from the tears or she would have noticed how nervous he was. "W-what, oh yeah, sure, sure! We can go to the pet store tomorrow; uh…I'm sure they have ponies in stock!"

"N-no, w-will you r-really protect me f-from him?"

"U-uh yeah! Of-of course I'll p-protect you, S-Sakura." He didn't think he had ever been so uneasy in his entire life.

She smiled sweetly, tears still trailing down her cheeks and laid down with Sasori following suit. The only thing was when he laid back down next to her she curled up in a ball against his chest, holding onto a handful of his black sleeping yukata's fabric, something that was completely out of character for the headstrong kunoichi. Normally Sasori hated being touched, but for some reason it didn't really bother him that Sakura was. Regardless, he was pretty much in panic mode over the fact that he could feel her breathing against the exposed part of his chest, _'Oh God, this is going to be a long night…'_

* * *

The bags under his eyes were darker than usual and he had a horrible headache from being overly tired. Sasori hadn't gotten much sleep after the 'event'. Most of the night he had just laid there and tried not to move so he didn't disturb the girl who was ever-so-close to him, and because he was pretty freaked out by the whole thing. He hadn't seen her yet this morning, but he was only just getting up, she had apparently woken up before him and made her side of the bed. Just how she was going to react now that the whole ordeal was over he didn't know. Sasori knew that the female race had a tendency to do something to someone, later regret it, and then hate the person that they did it to for no reason. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case with Sakura, although she did seem like the type.

Taking in a deep breath, he looked around the corner into the kitchen where he could hear her voice, along with Kisame and Itachi's. It was going to be ten times more embarrassing if Sakura had spilled to them what had happened. Kisame would torture and blackmail him with that information for the rest of his life. _'Here goes…'_

"Well look who finally decided to join us," Kisame grinned, most likely he wasn't concerned about the fact that Sasori had slept in later than usual or what had happened during the night, he was probably waiting to be served breakfast but he still braced himself anyways. "So what's on the menu today?"

Sasori inwardly sighed, that meant she hadn't told them, and if she had that would have been the first thing out of Kisame's mouth. Maybe Sakura didn't even remember what happened, but then again when she woke up that close to him the memories would have came rushing back to her.

He avoided looking at her, focusing only on the shark man, "I think we still have some of those muffins Konan bought, you can eat those."

He wasn't hungry, so he hadn't intended on making anything, but then his eyes trailed over to Sakura who looked like she was waiting to be fed even though she was evading his gaze. That meant she did remember what had happened, and by the looks of it she was very embarrassed. Sasori saw Itachi arch and eyebrow as he walked past Sakura, who he noticed was blushing a light red. _'Oh just great, this isn't awkward at all…'_

"So wait, you're making omelets for everyone _but_ me? How does that work out?!" the ex-Kiri-nin scowled, watching Sasori crack a couple eggs into the frying pan. "I don't want a stupid day-old muffin, I want eggs!"

"Well that's just too bad, Kisame." The Scorpion snarled, apparently he was even grumpier than usual due to the lack of sleep that he got and his throbbing head. It wasn't like it was something new, he hardly ever made the shark man breakfast just to torture him, by now one would think that he would have gotten the picture, "Maybe you would like to make everyone breakfast instead?"

"Muffins it is," Muttering under his breath something about how Sasori was a cranky old man, he opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a basket of blueberry muffins. Sitting back down, he looked over at Sakura, who was even avoiding his gaze, "Something wrong, kid?"

"Oh-oh no! Nothing's wrong!" She jumped up in her chair, plastering a very insincere smile on her face, "I'm just tired, that's all, really."

"Uh huh," Kisame bit into his muffin, obviously not buying her answer. "You just keep telling yourself that, kid."

Frowning, Sasori dished out an omelet to Itachi, Sakura, and then himself. He sat down next to Sakura so he wouldn't have to look at her, but even so it was still awkward.

The four of them ate in silence, which was really surprising considering Kisame was normally going on about something that had happened or complaining. But today he was sulking due to the fact that the smell of fresh eggs, cheese, and bacon was wafting into the air while he munched on stiff baked goods.

Much to Sasori's dismay, Kisame downed his muffins as fast as possible, and Itachi, who knew something was up, was mysteriously not hungry anymore and exited with Kisame. This left Sasori and Sakura all alone in the kitchen. He started shoving food down his throat, not bothering to chew it.

"Sasori-san?"

"U-uh yes, Sakura?"

"Where's my pony?"

* * *

Mid-December snow covered the streets of Amegakura and even more was falling from the grey sky. It was mostly packed down from all the bustle and hustle of the villagers shopping for Christmas presents. Windows were filled with various displays of the most popular items of the season and the whole town was decked out for the upcoming holiday.

Despite his protests, Sakura was bundled up in typical winter clothing: coat, mittens, hat, boots, and scarf. Sasori, on the other hand, was in his usual Akatsuki attire, except for added gloves and boots. After all, not even the strongest of ninja could stand walking in sandals in the snow, at least not for as long as the two of them would be out shopping. He was really regretting the promise he had made because now he was going to be spending all his earnings from the last mission they participated in to pay for some pony.

His patience was growing thin, he was already irritable from lack of sleep, because Sakura had to look at every store window and point out all the things she wanted for Christmas. Not only that, but he was forced to carry all the Christmas presents Sakura had bought. He wanted to get the errand over with so he could get back to Headquarters where it was nice and warm and ponies weren't allowed inside.

Sasori was looking up at the snow falling from the sky when suddenly he found himself being yanked across the busy road by his sleeve. There was a large crowd surrounding a store, most of them were girls emitting giggles and screams. He hated the sound of happy females.

Sakura pushed the gleeful girls aside making way for her and Sasori, who was apologizing to everyone Sakura had knocked over, in the front. They finally were able to see what everyone was making a fuss over; the display was filled with various pieces of very expensive jewelry.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" She frowned, looking up at Sasori.

"I mean you can't have any of that, we're here for a pony, remember?" For the first time he was happy that she was getting a pony, a pony wouldn't put him in debt for the rest of his life, "Now let's go."

Sakura wasn't paying any attention to him though; she was busy arguing with one of the girls next to her. "Sakura—"

"Not now, Sasori-_kun_," Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him up beside her, "I was just telling this _punk_ here how _you're_ going to buy _me_ that necklace right there."

He looked over to the item that she was pointing at. It was hard for him to keep his jaw from dropping and play along with Sakura's little act, at least he _hoped_ it was an act. The necklace was well over 5,000 Ryou, which was half a year's salary for him. The whole piece was centered around a rare, red diamond in the shape of a heart which was outlined by other smaller diamonds. The necklace itself was also a string of the same smaller shaped diamonds that would fit tightly around the neck. Sasori had never seen anything like it but no man in their right mind, no matter how much in love, would never spend so much money on it, let alone be even able to _afford_ it.

"He won't even have a chance, because _my_ boyfriend is going to buy it for me." The girl arguing with Sakura was much taller than her, and she had blonde hair and her face was dotted with freckles. Sasori wasn't sure how Sakura had even managed to get involved with the argument, but then again he knew that girls tended to argue over everything.

"Not if mine buys it first!" She wrenched Sasori's arm, almost pulling it out of its socket, so he now faced the girl she was arguing with, "Tell 'em, _dear_."

"Uhh, uh yeah!" This was not one of Sasori's better days, he was contemplating on exactly what he would do if Sakura shoved him in front of the store counter and demanded he purchase it. He figured he could probably get away with poisoning everyone in the room somehow, but then again that wasn't exactly in the seasonal spirit of him, "Yeah I already put it on hold."

Instead of dispersing because of disappointment, the crowd around them now formed into an angry mob. The girl who Sakura had argued with was getting them all riled up, she was shouting at them something about 'no snot-nosed brat is going to take away our Christmas gifts' or something. Sasori's world as he knew it seemed to be crashing down on him right before his eyes. Acting on instinct, he reached into his pocket for a bottle of deadly poison that's fumes would cause the crowd's vital organs to shut down slowly and painfully as they convulsed into spasms.

"Ouch, let go!" He didn't have the chance to execute his idea because he was running as fast as he could with a clump of hair clenched in Sakura's grasp. It must have looked rather funny to onlookers, seeing a mob of angry girls chase a girl dragging a full-grown man across town by pulling his hair. Not something you see everyday.

Much to his dismay, Sakura didn't let go, she kept hauling him past villagers carrying dozens of wrapped presents, knocking a couple over in her wake. She weaved in and out of them, trying to lose the mob but to no avail. Instead of staying on the highroad though, Sakura had the brilliant idea to try and lose them in a back alleyway.

"End of the line, brat," The two Akatsuki were cornered against a dead end, a building preventing them from escaping the wrath of the mob. It looked like the two of them were going to actually have to defend themselves in order to make it to Christmas Day. Sakura however, remembered the bloodbath that Sasori had caused at Otogakura and had the great idea to—

"No! Anything but that!"

—Leap over the building.

* * *

"Oh quit your whining," Sakura had already apologized several times to the ex-Suna-nin for the damage she had done; he was still massaging his scalp from where she had pulled his hair.

"What gave you the bright idea to pick a fight with that girl anyways?"

"She was going on and on about how everyone might as well just go home because her little boyfriend was going to purchase that necklace in the window for her," She was still apparently fuming over the whole ordeal. "I couldn't take it anymore—don't you roll your eyes at me!"

It probably wasn't a very good idea to upset her even more; he had suffered enough damages from her, "I guess we didn't get to the pet store."

The kunoichi turned to face him and then smacked him on the head, "Ow, what the hell was that for?!"

"Sasori, you idiot, they don't sell _ponies_ at a pet store," For being a genius he certainly lacked common sense when it came to shopping. But then again, for all she knew they could have sold them at pet stores in Sunagakura. "I just wanted to go out so I could finish my Christmas errands."

"You could have told me that when we first started," He grumbled, he was starting to live up to Kisame's comment about him being a 'cranky old man'.

"No, that would have ruined the fun," Sakura laughed, smiling. "I know the whole time you we were shopping you were regretting you had said that, it was quite amusing watching your pained expressions."

She was in an unusually good mood which was surprising to even her since she had been so moody in the morning hours. Maybe it was the fact that Christmas was only a few days away, "It's so cold."

* * *

Sakura hid the presents she had bought under her bed, it was the only place she could really hide them even though it was probably the most obvious place she could find. If one of the members really wanted to find them then they would have no problem, but everyone seemed to respect each other's space. Kisame and Hidan were the only ones she really expected to go snooping, and Hidan's religion probably found gift-giving blasphemous but then again she was pretty sure gift-taking would be okay.

The whole Akatsuki household had been decked out for Christmas thanks to her and Tobi. Stockings were hung over the fireplace in the common room, each with each member's name in glitter glue. The mantel itself was probably the most impressive, polyester clumps were used for snow and all her close Akatsuki friends had participated in making little gingerbread houses that were illuminated by a string of white lights. Sakura had to make a lot of threats to each of the members, most which involved castration in order to get them to make them. Sasori's artistic skills made his easily the most magnificent; Kisame's on the other hand's roof was falling apart on one side where he had taken a bite out of it. The only thing missing in the complex was a tree, but that problem would be solved soon enough.

"Toboggan, check. Axe, check. Everyone here? Check." Sakura was facing the four Akatsuki members who did not look particularly happy about chopping down a tree, for the exception of Tobi. Hidan had the axe, of course, and Kisame was going to pull the sled, "Tobi, get off."

"Tobi wants to be pulled."

"Well that's too bad, Tobi get off."

"Why can't Tobi be pulled?"

"Because Tobi is too heavy."

"Tobi's not moving."

"Goddammit, Tobi!" Hidan picked the orange-masked shinobi up by his feet and threw him off to the side. "Now let's fucking get this over with."

* * *

"How about this one?"

"No, that one's too small."

"This one?"

"No, that one has a fucking bare spot in the back"

"This one looks good."

"No, the branches are too weak."

"I like this one."

"The trunk's too short; we'll never get it in the stand."

The six of them had been searching for over two hours for the perfect tree. For all the fuss they had put up about chopping one down they were being very critical of all the trees they had checked over. They were all getting on each other's nerves and more than once Hidan had thrown Tobi into a tree or two out of annoyance.

"This one?" Itachi pointed to a sturdy looking white pine, it was taller than he was, standing about eight feet high. The rest of them examined it from head to toe; they argued over minor flaws but other than that they were pretty satisfied. "This one it is."

"Alright, let me fucking at it!" Three swings to the trunk and Hidan had already chopped it down. "Goddammit, Tobi!"

Tobi was squirming under the large tree that had landed upon him; he had been standing much too close. Sasori and Kisame rolled it off him and Sakura helped him up. He was covered in sap and pine needles, but other than that he seemed fine. "Tree attacked Tobi! Tree attacked Tobi!"

* * *

"Now what?" Kisame and Hidan pulled back from straightening the tree in its stand, admiring their work. The tree just managed to miss the ceiling, there would be enough room for the star.

"Now we trim the tree." Sakura hadn't expected them to be so clueless about decorating a tree, but then again she probably should have. Tobi and she had spent a whole day just purchasing ornaments for the tree; they had about a hundred of them waiting to be hung.

"Ugh, I'll get the clippers," Kisame grumbled, heading out the door, he thought he was done with cutting off branches.

"Kisame, wait! 'Trimming the tree' means that you decorate it." Sakura called after him, trying hard not to laugh. She pulled out the box with all the ornaments. "First, we have to put the star on, the star always goes first."

The star that she had bought was basically thick wire covered in tinsel with a white Christmas light at each of its points. She handed it to Sasori who attempted to place it on the top, but he was too short. "Kisame, lift me up."

If Sasori wasn't in the comfort of Akatsuki Headquarters he certainly wouldn't be sitting atop Kisame's shoulders adjusting the star. "Kisame, you idiot! Watch what you're doing!"

Crash! Sasori fell forward into the tree from off Kisame's shoulders, knocking it over. Pine needles had already fallen off from transporting it but now the floor was absolutely covered with them. Everyone except Sasori and Itachi was in hysterics, Itachi maintained his usual stone-cold gaze but the curl of his lip proved that he was amused as well, laughing and pointing at him.

After they had resituated the tree back into its upright position, the six of them began stringing strands of colored lights all around it. Hidan had already snapped one strand in half after arguing with Tobi about how he wasn't putting them on correctly. So far the whole trimming the tree exercise wasn't going as planned, but they were all having fun in the process, although no one but Sakura and Tobi would admit it.

Itachi stood back squinting his eyes so his vision was blurred, Sakura had been healing his eyes daily so his sight had significantly improved, to check if there were any bare spots. They had done a pretty good job; he only had to instruct Sakura to adjust one area.

"Next is the decorations," Sakura held out the box to them. "Now don't clump them all together."

The Akatsuki could probably win an award for how fast they strung ornaments. It was almost like a race or competition, but then as Sakura really thought about it, they probably were secretly competing. Sakura had tried to find the most peculiar looking ornaments, after all the Akatsuki were a strange bunch.

She had made sure each one of them had a specific ornament that represented them, although she didn't tell them that. For Kisame, Sakura had of course found one in the shape of a shark. Even though it was he who strung it up on the tree he still didn't get the hint that it was meant for him. Hidan's ornament was a rather gruesome looking banshee, she had tried to find a grim reaper but the store clerk told her that they were apparently out of stock which was a little creepy. For Itachi, Sakura had found a clear bulb that had little bits of confetti inside, it was the closest thing she could get to a kaleidoscope for his Mangekyo. The ornament she chose for Tobi was a little carousal that spun around and played music when you wound it up. She could have picked out the obvious orange pumpkin that she had seen, but she wanted something that would really fit his childish personality rather than his mask. Finally, Sasori's ornament was a white daffodil, the closest thing she could get to his favorite flower.

"Are we all done yet? It looks like it's finished."

"No, we still have the tinsel," Sakura pulled out another box and handed it to Kisame. "Now you have to do it a couple strands at a time to get just enough on every branch—"

Too late, Kisame had already dumped the whole thing on the tree, "There we go, perfect."

The six of them stood back admiring their work. It looked okay, with all its mismatched ornaments, their tree certainly wouldn't be on display at a store or anything but it was good enough for them.

"So what was the fucking point of this? I mean, I know it looks kinda fucking pretty but what do we _do_ with it now, slut?" It wasn't just Hidan who was confused; the rest of them looked kinda puzzled as well. Sakura couldn't even imagine what Christmas would be like without a tree and decorations, but it seemed as though none of them, except maybe Itachi, had ever celebrated Christmas.

"You're supposed to put presents under it, on Christmas Day everyone opens their gifts. I've already bought you all something." On that note everyone's mood changed. Each of them exchanged excited glances which was something very out of character, for the exception of Tobi.

"So what'd you get me, kid?" Kisame asked, trying to hide his enthusiasm.

Sakura waved a finger at him, "I can't tell you that, you'll just have to wait a few more days."

"Tobi wants to go sledding."

Everyone turned to face Tobi, who had apparently managed to go outside and drag the toboggan inside without anyone noticing. He had on a furry, pink wool hat that clashed against his orange mask.

"I'm not going fucking sledding."

* * *

"I can't believe I'm going fucking sledding," Hidan pouted like a little kid. He had actually zipped up his robes for once and had tied a plaid scarf around the collar.

"Oh shut up Hidan, we all know you secretly want to," Sakura teased, pulling him over to the toboggan and holding him down on it until he gave into her and sat quietly. "Is everyone ready?"

They had arranged themselves in order of smallest to largest, Sakura in front followed by Sasori, then Tobi, then Itachi, then Hidan, and finally Kisame. She hadn't informed them of the last part yet, which they were all going to freak out about.

"Okay, now you have to wrap your legs around the person in front of you so they don't fall out and slow us down." She was right, although she had expected every one of them to jump up, surprisingly they stayed seated.

"There is no fucking way I'm wrapping my legs around Itachi."

"I agree. Sorry Hidan, I know you wanted me to."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Hidan picked up a wad of snow and shoved it in Kisame's face. The shark man then returned the favor, "Ugh, you bastard, that went up my fucking nose!"

"Can we just go?" Sasori, impatient as always, glared back at the other bickering members. He himself had wrapped his legs over Sakura's with no questions asked.

"Oh yeah, that's easy for you to say, Sasori, you can wrap your's around a _girl_."

None of them had noticed how red in the face Sakura was, but then again all their cheeks were rosy red from the bitter cold, at least they assumed Tobi's were. Maybe her embarrassment was due to the dream she had had during the night.

Sasori frowned, dug his hands into the ground, and pushed off sending the six of them down the steep hill, three of which were in mid-argument when he kicked off.

Sakura was at the reigns steering clear of trees and brush as they descended down further and further. They were going so fast that snow was flying into their eyes so they barely could see, but everything was a blur anyways. The sled must have hit a rock because they flew up into the air and landed, still moving and picking up speed. None of them had ever gone as far as they had; it was an awful big hill. If they could look back and see each other they would have found that every single one of them was clinging on to the person in front of them for dear life, which no one would admit once they stopped. The whole ride Hidan was screaming a very long "Hooooolllllyyyy Shiiiiiitttttt!"

All six of them were sprawled out on their backs in the snow, too much of the white fluffy stuff had accumulated in Sakura's eyes and thus they hit a tree and crashed. They hadn't quite reached the bottom of the hill, but they were far enough so that it would be a long walk up. The sun was already setting and it would be a little over an hour before they made it back to the top.

* * *

"Well that was quite a day," Sasori was sipping coffee from a mug, sitting on his bed next to Sakura who had lain down already.

Sakura wasn't thinking about the exciting and yet tiresome day though, she was more concerned about the dream she had had. It confused her, especially since dreams supposedly had something to do with one's conscience. What did that mean? Why had she dreamt that she was _marrying Sasori_? She could understand if she had been _forced_ to marry him in her dream, but that wasn't the case. In her dream, Sakura had been overjoyed that she would be tying the knot with him. It just didn't make any sense.

"Yeah, it was."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah...that was kinda hard to write since it's what...August 6th? I shouldn't have set the scene so late in the season to begin with, but I'm glad I did, actually. I have something in store for Sakura on Christmas, it's going to be pretty epic. xD I didn't mean to end the chapter so abruptly, but I was kinda sick of writing at that point. .**


	9. Merry Christmas, Sakura Haruno

Before we begin, I would just like to thank those who have reviewed (and those who have read) my story thus far. xD Thanks guys, you rock.

**Chapter Nine: Merry Christmas, Sakura Haruno**

All the Akatsuki were home for the holidays, but only the usual five that Sakura hung out with were gathered around the fireplace and tree. To her surprise, none of the others had made any comments about the decorations, not even Pein had protested. She had placed all the gifts that she had originally hidden under the bed under the tree, all of which she had sealed so that they wouldn't be able to be opened until Christmas. Something that surprised her even more was that hers weren't the only ones under the tree. By the looks of the pile everyone had gone out and purchased things for one another, even Hidan who would have to repent for his sins later which he probably would enjoy. Never in her wildest dreams had Sakura imagined that the Akatsuki would have the heart to give each other gifts for Christmas or any other day of the year. Then again, she would have never guessed that she would be the one who started the whole trend by buying things for _them_.

"Gimme that!" Kisame reached over Itachi to try and grab the bottle of sake from Sasori, "Goddammit Sasori, tomorrow's _Christmas_!"

That had to be about the sixth time Kisame had used that phrase as a guilt trip during the evening, most of the times he had used it revolved around alcohol. Itachi looked about ready to send the shark man through the roof if he got any closer to him, and much to his dismay Sasori pulled the bottle further away from Kisame causing him to basically lay on him. "Kisame! Get off me!"

"Not until wood-for-brains gives me that bottle!" His words were slightly slurred from being half-drunk already, if he did managed to get totally wasted and pass out he was going to spend the night on the floor because none of the members would bother to move him. It had happened before and it would happen again. "Sasori! Get in the spirit!"

"I am in the spirit, I'm saving you from a hangover," That wasn't entirely true, Kisame would probably have one anyways, but in his drunken state he might buy into it. "Consider it my gift to you."

"Itachi-san, it's your turn," Sakura handed Itachi the two dice to the game of Monopoly that they were all playing. It had taken a lot of effort to get them all to play, Kisame, Itachi and Sasori all wanted to play for actual money, but Hidan protested as it was against his religion. After a long argument they had finally all agreed to play without betting, only because of Sakura's threats to take away all their presents. Itachi bent over to move his character three spaces forward, landing on one of Hidan's properties.

"Pay up, bitch," A big grin was illuminated from the fire on Hidan's face, his hand outstretched to Itachi who looked about ready to kill the sadistic masochist. "No, no I have _two_ properties on there, that's 250 Ryou."

"You do not," Itachi snatched back the paper Ryou from Hidan. "You just moved that from the one next to it."

"I fucking did not, give me that back!"

Hidan received a death glare from Itachi that could chill any normal human being to the bone. Defeated, he received the correct amount from Itachi but not without muttering profanities under his breath.

"There you go, whore," Sakura rolled the dice that Hidan had handed to her, moving her piece to a vacant spot. She was on the floor with Hidan and Tobi, but was leaning ever-so-lightly against Sasori's legs as he was sitting behind her on the couch. For reasons she didn't question, she felt the need to be close to him tonight. "Ichiraku, I'll buy it."

The version they were all playing she had received from Shikamaru the previous Christmas. It was hard to do, but Sakura had placed the fact that she wouldn't be spending her Christmas with all her Konoha friends in the back of her mind so she could focus on the present. _'There's nothing I can do about it anyways…'_

They continued to play for another hour or so before boredom set in. The six of them determined that Itachi had been the winner, he had basically monopolized half the board and everyone seemed to land on his spaces with the highest rent. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

Apparently Kisame and Tobi had to be constantly entertained, even Hidan had to be for the most part. If they weren't doing something the rest of them would have to listen to Kisame and Hidan's bickering and Tobi's begging for someone to play with him. Sasori had given up on reading within five minutes of their presence, it just wasn't worth it.

"Tobi thinks we should play Hide-and-Go-Seek!"

"Tobi's a dickwad."

"How about charades?"

"The last time we played that and Hidan did his impression of Pein he actually walked by and saw him doing it; it took us about a half an hour to pry him out of the wall."

"Hey, that just proves I did it pretty fucking good," Sakura could picture all of them standing around Hidan, who was sticking half inside the house and half out, suggesting ways to get him out of the wall.

"We could sing Christmas Carols," Sakura knew that her idea would be shot down immediately, but she felt like suggesting it anyways.

"I don't sing," Sasori and Itachi said in unison, their tone very flat.

"Aw me and Hidan will," Kisame perked up, he had managed to steal the sake bottle when Sasori wasn't looking. "Right Hidan?"

"No fucking way."

"Oh c'mon, you know the words: Jingle bells, Sasori smells—"

Kisame wasn't able to finish the song since he had just been thrown across the room, hitting his head on the wall which knocked him out cold. Sasori brushed his robes off and sat back down, picking up the sake bottle and pouring himself a cup in one of the Christmas mugs that Sakura had insisted that everyone used.

Tobi had been watching him do it, cocking his head in interest. "Tobi wants to try."

"Ugh, that's the last thing we fucking need, a drunken Tobi."

"But Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is a very good boy, Santa is going to bring Tobi lots of presents in Tobi's stocking!"

"Tobi, there's no such fucking thing as—" Sakura snatched the sake bottle right as Sasori was pouring himself another cup and smacked Hidan in the head with it. "What the fuck was that for?!"

"You know very well what that was for, now keep your mouth shut," The last thing she wanted was for Tobi's dreams to be crushed on Christmas Eve, she remembered how disappointing Christmas had been after Ino had told her about Santa Claus' existence.

"I'm going to bed," Itachi stood up, not waiting for anyone's answer or reaction, and left the room. Soon after everyone followed, for the exception of Kisame who would be left lying under the table for the night.

* * *

It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night for Sakura Haruno. Her bottled up thoughts about her friends in Konoha hadn't stayed bottled; she was silently sobbing, her back to Sasori. Naruto and the others were probably finishing up their annual Christmas party at Ino's house. Everyone would be there, even Kakashi although he did tend to show up at least an hour late. They were probably all having fun without her, exchanging gifts and eating lots of homemade baked goods. In reality she had had fun with all the Akatsuki members, she didn't deny it, but it just wasn't the same.

This would be her first Christmas without Naruto, something she could have never imagined happening. She would miss the Jinchuuriki banging on her door at four o'clock in the morning, a huge smile on his face waiting for her to hand him his present. All those times she had opened the door and yelled at him for waking her up that early she regretted, she would accept that action with open arms in her present situation. She would do anything to see that smile again.

Her thoughts inevitably ended up with her questioning whether or not she would ever make it back home, as they did often when she thought of Naruto and the others. What if they never came for her? What if they _did_ come for her? As days went on she found it harder and harder to imagine parting with the Akatsuki, yet at the same time she longed to return to Konoha, the village she loved, where the friends she grew up with lived.

How had she become so attached to the monsters that called themselves 'Red Dawn'? They were cold-blooded murderers; each and every one of them had slain thousands. Yet she now saw them in a different light, a light that revealed their true personalities that were hidden under their murderous actions. She knew that the ones she was so close to now were not savages, they were human. Sure, they had their flaws, but when it really came down to it they were relatively good people, for the most part. Now that she knew them better it was hard her to even imagine them as vicious s-ranked criminals, even with Sasori's attack on Suna that was still as vivid in her mind as it had been that night. They all had painful pasts, they all had a tough life growing up, it was hard to blame them for what they had become.

And then Sasori coughed, and Sakura relaxed, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki stood outside Sakura Haruno's door, holding a present wrapped poorly in green wrapping paper with little candy canes adorn it. Tears trailed down his cheeks, he clutched the present tighter.

He held his fist to the door, knocked, and waited. No one answered. He knocked again, and again, and again. Still nothing.

He pounded at the door, if he wasn't careful he was going to break it down but he didn't care. Right now the only thing that truly mattered was Sakura, _his_ teammate, _his_ friend, _his_ love, _his_ Sakura. He needed to see her; he needed to make sure she was alright. She was going to answer the door; she had to answer the door. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Open up, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan…Sakura-chan…"

Naruto knew that she wasn't there, but in his heart he knew that maybe…maybe a Christmas miracle would happen, maybe Sakura had come home during the night.

"Naruto."

The Jinchuuriki turned to see Tsunade standing behind him. Hesitating, he gave her small smile, maybe she was going to tell him that Sakura was with her, that's right, she must be with her. But then he noticed the tell-tale signs of crying on her and he could no longer hold all of his emotions in. He jumped into her arms, crying so loud, so very loud. The Sannin wrapped her own arms around him, silently sobbing.

"It'll be okay, Naruto. It'll be okay…"

* * *

"Sakura-chan, Sasori-san! Santa came for Tobi! Santa came for Tobi!" The orange-masked shinobi was on the end of Sakura and Sasori's bed jumping up and down. The two of them groaned a couple times at their early wakeup call and slowly sat up. Tobi wasn't the only one in the room; Kisame and Hidan were standing eagerly in the doorway, greedy looks on both their faces. Itachi was out of view in the hallway, his arms crossed looking very irritated, he wasn't a morning person.

"Ugh, Tobi stop, let go!" Tobi was attempting to pull both Sakura and Sasori out of bed; most likely that was how he got the others up. "I'm getting up, I'm getting up!"

The two of them staggered out of bed following the others past the kitchen and into the common room. They passed Pein and Konan on the way, both who wished them a 'Merry Christmas' which surprised Sakura. As they continued walking through the corridors Sakura could see that another foot of snow had fallen during the night as she glanced out the kitchen window. Finally they reached the common room, where a fire was burning brightly in the fireplace. The stockings that had been hung all had little trinkets stuffed inside; Sakura wondered if it had been Pein or Konan who had put them in there because she certainly hadn't. But then when she really thought about it she couldn't really see either one of them doing such a thing.

"Tobi wants Sakura-chan to open Tobi's present for her first," Tobi handed Sakura a very poorly wrapped present, it reminded her of Naruto's skills in that department. Normally Naruto's presents were taped, glued, and stapled together. Unwrapping it, Sakura smiled. Tobi had painted a picture of Sakura and him surrounded by flowers on all sides, at least that's what she thought it was.

"Thank you so much Tobi, I'll have to frame it and hang it on the wall in my room." It would certainly brighten up the dreary atmosphere in her and Sasori's room a bit. She was sick of the dark walls and floor, any bit of color would help.

Sakura handed out the presents that she had purchased for the five of them. For Kisame she had picked out a large bottle of hard liquor, she really couldn't think of anything else to get him and she knew he'd appreciate any form of alcohol. Hidan was easy, she had bought his first. At the bookstore she immediately ran over to the religion section and picked out a book with hundreds of different faiths. Tobi received a hobby-horse that he had already christened 'Shuichi'. Itachi was probably the most difficult of all of them, but eventually Sakura decided on getting him a very expensive weapons kit with kunai, senbon, and shuriken made out of meteorite. Sasori's present was a gold pocket watch, now he could look at the time and get even more frustrated with waiting. She had no more money with her; she had spent all that she originally had on her and the earnings from the few missions that she was assigned to in Akatsuki.

As for her, Sakura received not only Tobi's gift, but others as well. Kisame had bought her a ribbon with little bells for her hair, and Hidan had gotten her a set of chopsticks that had poison-tipped kunai concealed inside. Itachi had given her a jewelry box that doubled as a music box which played a familiar tune.

Sasori stood in the corner; his arms crossed watching over the five of them open the rest of the presents. Sakura had caught his gaze once or twice, but other than that he said or did nothing. He hadn't said a word after he had opened his own presents and handed out the ones he had for the others, except Sakura.

She couldn't figure it out. Had she done something wrong, something to anger him? It didn't make any sense. The thought had crossed her mind that maybe he still hated her, that his kindness had all been an act. Maybe he still wanted her dead. The idea pained her; she had become closest to him of all the members, if he hated her…well she wouldn't know what to do or think.

They all finished unwrapping their gifts and were putting on their mittens and scarves to go outside. None of them had noticed the absence of Sakura's present from Sasori; they were all too preoccupied with their own.

* * *

"Okay, let's form two teams," Sakura said, lining the five of them up before her. "We need two captains, who wants to be the—"

"Me," Sasori and Hidan said in unison, Kisame had been a second too late, sending each other a death glare. Sakura stepped back in the line as the two of them stepped forward. "How do we decide who goes first?"

"Tobi thinks Sasori-san should go first," Tobi offered, hopping up and down in the deep snow.

"No one fucking asked for Tobi's opinion."

"I pick Sakura," Sasori said nonchalantly, motioning for her to stand beside him. She did so very hesitantly, why had he picked her first? Was he just fooling with her, was it to give her a false sense of security, leading her away from his hatred?

"Kisame."

"Itachi."

"Ugh, fuck. Fine, Tobi get the fuck over here," The teams were formed, Sasori, Sakura, and Itachi vs. Hidan, Kisame, and Tobi. "Now what?"

"Well," Sakura frowned, how could none of them have ever participated in a snowball fight before? "We have to construct forts now, to shield ourselves."

The six of them set off to do just that. They began packing snow together on opposite ends of the yard. Sakura was amazed how fast and how large they were building it, the Akatsuki seemed to do everything as fast as possible. Her team's structure was much more artistic, but Hidan's team looked much sturdier.

"And now," Sakura grinned, picking up a fist full of snow and packing it together forming a ball. "We fight!"

Snow was flying this way and that; it was almost like a thick shower of it. The teams were pretty much lost; it was more of a free-for-all. Tobi, who was in the midst of it all, was running around in circles as Kisame and Hidan pelted him with slush balls one after another. Itachi managed to nearly always get everyone in the face, and when he wasn't aiming at the face he was aiming somewhere else that caused the males to keel over when they were hit.

"In coming, kid!" Sakura turned from picking up a ball of snow to see one heading right towards her. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, but it didn't come. Opening one eye she saw Sasori in front of her, who had shielded her from it.

"You owe me one," He smirked, looking back at her.

* * *

"Pass the gravy?"

Everyone for the exception of Zetsu and Kakuza was seated at the table; Sakura still hadn't even caught a glimpse of either of them yet. She was very surprised that Pein and Konan had joined them; it sort of made the situation awkward for her and everyone else. Luckily, Hidan and Tobi weren't fazed at all by their presence which made the atmosphere in the room a little less tense. Tobi was still goofing around and playing with his food and Hidan was still swearing left and right.

Sakura was sitting next to Sasori as usual, whom she was still trying to figure out. He was sending out mixed signals about their friendship, first he didn't get her a Christmas present but then he picked her first for his team and protected her from getting hit. The thought that he was just toying with her was still the only thing she could come up with. He was a puppet master after all; he pulled the strings on his puppets so he could possibly be pulling hers. But why would he do that? She couldn't come up with any reason other than the fact that he might still hate her, but why would he bother? Wouldn't he just show his disgust for her out in the open?

The master of puppets had prepared a grand Christmas dinner for them. Turkey with all the fixings, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, mixed vegetables, different types of bread and for dessert, peach cobbler. He had spent most of the day working on it in the kitchen while the other members of their little group within the organization built a rather ghastly looking snowman army. Sakura had offered him her help, but he politely declined.

"This is very good, Sasori," Pein commented, passing Konan the basket of diverse breads. The rest of them muttered in agreement about Sasori's cooking, making him show the faintest amount of embarrassment through an almost non-existent blush.

Sakura watched as Hidan flung a piece of turkey with his fork at Kisame, which landed in the shark man's hair. Baring his teeth in anger, he returned the favor only with a chunk of mashed potatoes. It landed splat in the center of Hidan's face, which caused him to stand up and chuck a handful of vegetables which not only hit Kisame but the two who were sitting next to him, Itachi and Tobi. Itachi, livid from the few peas that had fallen down his robes, snatched Tobi's biscuit and flung it back at Hidan. The biscuit then flew from Hidan's plate to Sasori's to Konan's. The wistful kunoichi examined the item only to have it snatched from her hands by Pein. "That's enough, all of you."

Everyone, except Pein, Konan, and Itachi, was snickering and exchanging mischievous glances with each other. The tension in the room had let up a little despite Pein's scolding. They all began conversing a little more freely, "Hidan, you eat like a pig."

"I don't fucking eat any worse than you fucking do."

Kisame mimicked a pig's snort and Hidan stood up, reaching for the giant three crescent scythe leaning against the wall behind him, "Why you little fuck—"

"Well, I guess dinner's over with then!" Sakura stood up, hastily grabbing everyone's plate even if they weren't entirely finished. Sasori was in the midst of scooping another helping of peach cobbler onto his when suddenly it was stolen and Pein was about to pick something up with his fork as his plate was snatched away.

* * *

Tracks in the fresh snow lead to Tobi's pond where Sakura Haruno was crouched, shivering in the cold, on a large rock with tears falling onto the iced over surface of the water. After dinner was over she had fled the scene, not bothering to join in on Kisame's party with in a party which consisted of everyone pretty much getting wasted. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Something had been bothering her all day long and she didn't think she could keep it locked up if she saw _him_ for a long period of time.

"What's wrong with me? I don't understand…"

What _was_ wrong with her? Why was she crying over the absence of a stupid present? If it had been Itachi or Hidan it wouldn't have bothered her much, she would have just brushed it off and gone on with the festivities. But the fact that _Sasori_ had forgotten her had such a big impact on her, she couldn't figure it out. "Why do I care so much?..."

"Tobi wants to know why Sakura-chan is crying."

She jumped up onto her feet, she had been wallowing in her sorrows so much that she hadn't sensed the orange-masked shinobi's chakra. Bracing herself, she tried to push her real thoughts to the side and make something up that he would buy into. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned to face him, "Nothing's wrong Tobi, really."

Tobi shook his head, "Tobi knows something is bothering Sakura-chan, Tobi wants to know what, Tobi can help Sakura-chan." For the first time since Sakura had known Tobi, he was acting serious and seemed sincerely concerned. It was a side to him that she would never have guessed existed, a side that at that moment Sakura wished never existed.

"I-I just miss my friends in Konoha, that's all, I'll be fine, really." Tears began falling again from her eyes again; she hoped Tobi would by into that excuse. She tried to fix a genuine smile on her face, but knew that it came out incredibly fake.

He didn't, he shook his head and waved a finger at her, "Tell Tobi what is _really_ bothering Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan."

At that point she burst into uncontrollable sobs, she didn't know what was bothering and it pissed her off. She was angry at herself, how could she not know? If she only knew, maybe she could fix it. She just needed someone to tell her, to give her the slightest hint, anything to help her.

Sakura fell to her knees, shaking from her tears and frustration, "I-I don't know w-what's w-wrong, Tobi. I just _d-don't know_."

Tobi sat down beside her, patting her head, trying to comfort her. She could tell he didn't like to see her like that; he was no longer the cheerful child that she knew. It was hard to take in this Tobi, in a way she wished he would just jump around shouting his usual 'Tobi is a good boy'. She needed something to distract her, anything, "Tobi thinks Sakura-chan really knows, but Sakura-chan is afraid to admit it, Sakura-chan is in denial."

Sakura sniffed, attempting to calm herself down enough to speak properly. Did Tobi know something she didn't? What was he talking about? Surely she would have known what was bothering her, no one knew her better than herself. And what was that bit about admitting something, about denial? "W-what do you m-mean T-Tobi?"

"Sakura-chan knows deep down what Tobi means, Sakura-chan is just afraid to say it, Sakura-chan is afraid of being hurt again."

Her eyes opened as wide as they could through her tears. Hurt again? How did Tobi know about Sasuke, how did he know she had hurt him, that he had broken her heart? And how did _Sasuke_ relate to what she was feeling right now? "W-what d-do you m-mean Tobi? I don't understand."

"Sakura-chan is sad because Sasori-san forgot about her," Tobi said rather cheerfully, as if proud that he had figured out the mystery at hand. "Sakura-chan is afraid Sasori-san doesn't like Sakura-chan."

And that's when she broke again; she started wailing so out of control that her sobs could be heard a town over. He was right, the jig was up. He had figured that much out though, did that mean he knew the rest of it? How could Tobi of all people know so much? Would he help her discover the reason she was so depressed about the fact that he had forgotten her? Sakura clenched her fists in the snow, her bare hands becoming numb from the cold. "W-why Tobi? W-why did h-he do that?"

Tobi cocked his head to the side as if examining her. She was shocked at how such a childish creature could figure out something so deep. Maybe he wasn't all that he seemed, maybe there was something that _he_ was hiding. "Tobi knows a secret. Tobi knows a secret, Sakura-chan."

"W-what do y-you know, Tobi?" Sakura choked, she was having a difficult time breathing do to her relentless weeping. It was impossible to see his expression behind his orange mask, but she had a feeling he was smiling which sparked a bit of anger inside her towards him, how could he hide this from her when she was sitting beside him crying her eyes out? It was tearing her up inside.

He stood up; she assumed he was looking up at the cloudy sky above them. Snow was still falling; it hadn't let up in days. At this rate they were going to get snowed in, but at that moment Sakura didn't care about that. "W-what do you know, Tobi? P-please, tell m-me…"

"Sakura-chan needs to search deep into Sakura-chan's heart; Sakura-chan will find answers there." Tobi held out a hand to her to help her up, a gesture of true friendship. "Sakura-chan should not worry about understanding others; Sakura-chan needs to understand _herself_ first."

What she didn't understand was what Tobi was getting at, just what exactly was that supposed to mean? Sakura fully understood herself, she knew who her friends were, what her goals were, what her meaning in life was…well maybe not that last one yet. Still, she had a good sense of who she was and what she wanted, or did she? Now that she really dug into her brain she was beginning to question herself, maybe Tobi was right. "I-I still don't understand w-why S-Sasori forgot about m-me, does h-he hate me, T-Tobi?"

"Sakura-chan will find that out in due time, Sakura-chan has to be patient," Tobi waved his hand, signaling her to follow him. Maybe that meant he didn't know either, but for some reason she suspected he did. He had been right on key with everything else. "Sakura-chan needs to go inside; Sakura-chan will catch cold."

* * *

The hot water pounded down on her from the showerhead, it hid the tears that were still running down her face. Sakura didn't want to be patient like Tobi had told her to be, she wanted answers and she wanted them immediately. She wanted to stop crying, to stop the pain that was hurting her inside. All this over a missed gift, she should be crying about missing her friends in Konoha not over a stupid present. What did it matter? She would just forget about it a week later. Her head ached from both the crying and all the thinking and questioning she was doing.

She dried her hair with one of the towels that she had left out for herself. A piece of the cloth fell over her face, not bothering to move it she continued drying her locks and breathed in deeply to try and calm herself. The first breath she took caused her tear production to increase, the towel smelled like Sasori. In fact, the whole damn _room_ smelled like Sasori.

She threw the towel onto the floor and gripped the side of the sink, she felt like she was going to be sick. Looking into the mirror she saw her reflection. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had pink rings around them from rubbing them so much. Her bottom lip quivered, she was ashamed of herself. She had vowed never to cry again after Sasuke, crying was for the weak, she never wanted to feel that pain again.

All she wanted to do was lay down in bed and die, as she opened the door to her room, _Sasori's_ room. Afraid she was going to punch a hole in the wall, she sunk her fist into the pillow on her side of the bed. Throwing the covers aside, she climbed into bed and pulled the pillow over head to hide from the world.

There was only one problem.

Sakura turned on the lights and walked back over to the bed to see what the foreign object was that had managed to find its way under her pillow. Maybe it was one of Sasori's scrolls that he had somehow misplaced, but that didn't seem logical. The ex-Suna-nin was extremely organized, he never lost anything.

Sitting down, she picked up the object and examined it. It was a small, rectangular box. She shook it against her ear, something was definitely inside. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Sakura carefully opened the box.

She let out a gasp.

There was the necklace she had seen in the window of the jewelry store, the one she had fought over for. The one she had pretended Sasori was going to buy her, the one she had secretly prayed to high Heaven she would receive in her stocking by the means of a Christmas miracle. All its diamonds glittered so brightly in the light; the red heart centerpiece sparkled so beautifully. Sakura's own heart fluttered at the sight of it, it had taken all of her sorrows away. It was the perfect gift; there was nothing in the world that she ever wanted more than the necklace in her hands. Tears began flooding from her eyes again, but they were tears of joy.

Sakura clasped the necklace around her neck, walked over to the old, musty mirror and began admiring herself. She couldn't help but keep smiling; it looked so beautiful on her even though it sort of clashed with the blue sleeping yukata she had on.

Picking up the box to move it to the table, out fell a white piece of paper that had been folded up. Sakura placed the box back down on her pillow. She looked around her once again to make sure no one was around. Giggling, she opened it and read the note again and again and again. It only had a few words written on it, but that was all it needed.

_Merry Christmas, little girl._

**A/N: Aww. Well, it was pretty obvious that that was going to happen. xD Oh well, I tried. The scene at Tobi's pond actually went a lot better than I had originally imagined it would, who knew that Tobi could be so deep? Sakura's finally, slowly discovering her feelings for Sasori although she does need a bit more help…she's still in denial. I think I got a little repetitive with the whole Sakura questioning herself over and over though, hopefully that wasn't **_**too**_** annoying. Oh, and I sorta turned away from the whole old expressions thing, but really minus the 'Sakura Haruno' part, 'Merry Christmas' **_**is**_** an old expression. I'm pretty satisfied about this whole chapter, I think it went well…of course it's one in the morning so who knows. I feel so bad for Naruto though, poor kid. **


	10. Auld Lang Syne

**Chapter Ten: Auld Lang Syne**

"Eww, that looks disgusting!" Sakura sat perched on her stool in the Akatsuki kitchen across from her partner who was drawing a rather gruesome diagram of the effects of one of his new poison concoctions when used on a human. The skin of the human in the diagram had melted off into thick puddles of jelly except for a few patches. The poor soul that he was capturing in the drawing looked in so much agony that it was as if he was praying for death, "How could you ever use something like that?!"

"I already have or else I wouldn't know what the outcome was," He answered her question as if it was nothing, as if it was something he saw everyday. When Sakura really thought about it he probably did, poison was his specialty after all. She had only been on one mission with him so far that involved combat and the things that he did to his victims wasn't something a normal human could stomach. Becoming one of his puppets would have been a blessing compared to being torn to shreds, "If you cannot handle it you may excuse yourself."

The pink haired kunoichi had gotten on his nerves a lot in the past few days. She was bored, there was only so much one could do cooped up inside at Headquarters. Sasori would not allow her to venture out past the grounds alone as she was still considered a flight risk, which limited her activity list considerably. It was probably Pein who had ordered such precautions to be taken but it was Sasori who enforced them so she took note to annoy him to the best of her ability.

"I like mine better, it's nice and happy," A four year old could have beaten Sakura in an art contest; she had drawn a field of flowers with her and Naruto standing in the middle of it. She had used all the brightly colored pencils that Sasori wouldn't touch to make the scene seem pleasant and warm and was pleased enough with the outcome that she signed her name in the bottom corner, "You should lighten your's up a little."

Sasori stopped shading for a moment to look up at her. It was apparent that he didn't feel the same way she did, he was perfectly happy with the horrific appearance of his picture. Instead he seemed rather disturbed at Sakura's work, flowers and vivid colors were not his cup of tea, "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because, it would make it look better," Sakura snatched his drawing out from under his hand and examined it. She picked out a few colored pencils and began drawing hearts, flowers, and rainbows around the shrieking man. When she held up the new, fixed version to him his jaw dropped slightly and he grabbed it back to further examine her new inserts, "What is this?!"

"See, it looks better now."

"That doesn't look better at all; you've gone and ruined it."

"I did not! It looks much happier now…sorta."

"How am I supposed to categorize a poison that causes skin to liquefy and for flowers to grow out of the body?!"

"Well I don't know. That isn't _my_ problem now is it?"

"It's going to be your problem in a moment if you don't fix it."

"I don't get what the big deal is."

"How would you like it if I drew a giant serpent engulfing your friend in your picture, would you like that?"

"You wouldn't dare! I'll—"

"You'll what? Throw a bouquet at me?"

"I think it looks a lot better now!"

"Your opinion doesn't matter; I needed this to display the effects of the poison in order to classify it. I have devised several different—"

He stopped in mid-sentence as Sakura had snatched the paper back from him, stood up and threw open one of the kitchen drawers. Sasori watched as the heated kunoichi pulled a roll of tape out and cut a piece of it off to attach to the picture. She then proceeded over to the refrigerator and taped the picture on the door. Turning, arms crossed and frowning, Sakura looked somewhat satisfied in angry sort of way, "There, now you don't have to categorize it."

* * *

'_That asshole…'_

Sakura was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling of her room. She was still fuming over the fact that he hadn't appreciated her adding on to his diagram. What was the big deal? It was a joke! It wasn't as though he couldn't duplicate it, he didn't even need to; he already knew what the effects of his stupid poison were.

'_Ugh! That jerk, I'm going to kill him!'_

But as she continued to think about him her irritation began to wane instead of wax. It frustrated her, she was supposed to be mad at him but instead she found herself beginning to worry if she had really angered him. She wanted for him to commend her actions, not condemn them; she couldn't even begin to fathom as to why she desired his approval.

'_Just wait… When Naruto and the others come to save me… It'll be _me_ who kills him…'_

Why was it that she couldn't ever stop thinking about the puppet master? Lately she just couldn't put him out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried. She tried to ignore the way her heart pounded when she was around him, how the butterflies in her stomach fluttered and flapped their wings whenever she even thought about him. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't stop the feelings that she was beginning to feel towards him. They were just like the ones she had a few years back when she was infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha. The same feelings that she had vowed never to feel again because with them came all that pain.

'_I'm _supposed_ to hate him; he's my _captor_…But…I don't…'_

Now they were back and it seemed like there was nothing she could do about it no matter how hard she tried. There were two options, she could either feed the fire and admit it, or ignore them and stay in denial. Which was the best for her? She didn't know. If she _did_ admit it there was a chance that she would find her heart broken all over again which was something she never wanted to happen for a second time. On the other hand if she stayed in denial and he _did_ feel that way then it was just as bad.

'_What should I do? I need someone to tell me what to do!'_

Before he died he had told her and Chiyo that his heart was as cold as the body that he inhabited, but was it still? He was a mass murderer and yet he was kind to her, even if he wasn't very straightforward about it, he had purchased her such an expensive gift after all that _had_ to mean she meant something to him, right? After all, how many people give their _friends_ heart-shaped diamond necklaces?

'_Sasori, you jerk…'_

She twisted her precious necklace around her finger; it was a new nervous habit of hers. During the previous night she had come up with a plan that would take her a step further towards discovering what his emotions for her really were. Of course, in order for her to take that sort of action she would have to admit to herself that she did have feelings for him.

'_Maybe… No…'_

For the past hour she had ran the plan through her head over and over again. If it happened exactly as she pictured it would then she would be able to get him thinking. He would run the situation through his own head, maybe not as many times as she was doing, and it would cause him to question himself…hopefully. But if he didn't or the operation failed then there was a chance that it would become very awkward between the two of them. It would be a chance she would have to take though.

'_But… He can't have emotions like that… He never will… He's an s-ranked criminal… He's a _murderer_…'_

What was the chance that he would ever return the feelings that she was denying at the moment? He might be polite and kind to her but that didn't necessarily mean anything. In reality he could have been ordered by Pein to act like that towards her. He could secretly hate her with all of his heart. She had _killed_ him, that wasn't something you just forget overnight.

'_But even if that was so… Then why did he give me this?'_

Sakura unclasped the necklace around her neck and held it in her palm, examining it. She still couldn't get over how beautiful it was, there was nothing quite like it. The color of the red diamond matched his hair and eyes; she just wondered if it matched the color of his heart, maybe it was still as black as it had been a few months prior.

'_If I admit it…'_

If she admitted it there would be no turning back. She would be vulnerable to having her heart broken again, but was that a risk she was willing to take? Did he mean that much to her? It had only been a few months since she had come to live with the Akatsuki and yet in that time she had come to see the good in the puppet master, the side that he tried to hide from the others, the part of him that wasn't a mass murderer.

'_It's final…'_

Sasuke Uchiha had broken her heart but she had recovered enough to try again. The Uchiha had been cold and emotionless however Sasori took those two words to a whole new level. Even though they had both lost their parents at a young age, Sasuke hadn't annihilated entire countries like the Scorpion had.

'_That's it then, there's…'_

But even so, one cannot rid the body and soul of any sort of emotion no matter how hard one might try. Sakura had witnessed that first hand right before the death of Zabuza Momochi on the Great Naruto Bridge. It was possible to conceal emotions, to hide them away, but no one, no matter how cold or evil, could banish them from the heart. She would bring those emotions he had sworn to have rid himself of to the surface.

'…_no turning back…'_

Sitting up, she clutched the diamond necklace tightly as she fought back a smile. It wouldn't happen again, she wouldn't let it. She wouldn't feel the same pain that she had felt over Sasuke this time. This time would be different, she knew it. This time she had a battle plan.

'_Aishiteru, Akasuna no Sasori …'_

* * *

"Put that over there."

Kisame, Hidan, and Sakura were arranging the explosives they had purchased in Amegakura for the fireworks display that would go on later that night. Unlike the Christmas festivities that the two of them had put up such a fight against, they were more than happy to celebrate New Years Eve now that they knew it involved fire and blowing things up. Anything to do with danger the Akatsuki had no quarrel with, especially if there was the chance that they could blow Tobi to smithereens.

The fireworks that they had purchased weren't exactly sparklers and snakes, they were as heavy duty as they came with labels all over them warning about the hazards that they could cause. The three of them picked them out; in fact they had basically purchased the whole store. Everyone had pooled their money together to pay for them; Sakura contributed what little she had left. They didn't come cheap but in the long run they'd be worth it, especially if her plan worked.

"Hidan, you idiot! Watch where you're going with that!" Kisame snarled, the sadistic masochist had nearly knocked him over as he was carrying one too many of the fireworks. Hidan always had to get things over with as fast as possible no matter how reckless and careless he was; after all he had nothing to worry about due to his immortality. Shame he wasn't the same way when it came to those lengthy rituals he did to repent for his sins.

"Shut the fuck up Kisame," Hidan threw the fireworks down onto the snow. "You have a fucking problem with the way I fucking do things?"

'_Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have had the two of them working together…'_

"Kisame, Hidan! Calm down, both of you." Sakura intervened between the two of them, there was sure to be a fight if she didn't do something about it. "We're almost done, let's just finish up."

Her words made no impact whatsoever. Kisame already had Samehada in hand and Hidan his three crescent scythe. There was no helping it so Sakura just stood back, shaking her head in worry. The two of them were obviously not serious about the fight but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be blood.

The shark man made the first move, swinging his sword straight down at Hidan who caught it with his own weapon. Gritting their teeth and taking a sturdy stance, both men attempted to overpower the other with their strength. After what seemed like ages they both pulled back and charged back again. Hidan swung his scythe at Kisame whom jumped over its blades and managed to shave off a portion of the immortal's robes and skin on his shoulder.

The two of them made a long turn into a half circle and met up again, swinging their weapons at each other only to dodge them and turn to make another half circle and repeat the attack.

Both of them had their weapons out in front of them like a knight with a javelin when a large blur appeared from what seemed like nowhere and stopped them right in their tracks, holding on to the weapons and rattling from the output of strength that the two of them were producing.

"Enough."

The three of them turned to see Sasori, standing with blue chakra strings emitting from his fingertips, looking rather cross. It was one of his puppets that had interfered with their attack, as the two opponents relaxed it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. They looked from each other to Sakura, confused looks on their faces.

"Must I babysit you two constantly?" The puppet master growled, his normally dead eyes now filled with fire. Sakura didn't understand what had made him so angry, neither did Hidan and Kisame by the looks of it, there were fights all the time between the members of the organization; he had never acted in such a way before when one had broke out. "Such a simple task and the two of you cannot get it done without a fight."

Sasori walked over and inspected their setup of the fireworks; he seemed satisfied at their work because he made no comment. As he turned to face Sakura his expression looked somewhat softened, "Leader requests that you attend to Itachi, his eyes need to be examined again."

* * *

The Akatsuki infirmary was a tiny room near the wing of the complex where Pein, Konan, Zetsu, and Tobi's bedrooms were located. Its walls were painted white and cabinets lined them filled with a large supply of various medications, painkillers, and tools used for stitching up minor wounds. If any of them truly had any big gashes or injuries the supplies just weren't adequate to heal them. Before Sakura had moved in she suspected that if anything really damaging had happened they would have certainly had to go to a hospital or call in a surgeon or something. She would have liked to have seen that sight: some surgeon operating on one of the members nearly shitting their pants from fear.

"I don't understand why you're telling me this," The ex-Konoha-nin sat on the table in the center of the infirmary. "I do not care about your personal affairs, tell someone else instead."

"It doesn't matter if you care or not, I'm the one healing your eyes here. You're going to give me your opinion whether you like it or not. I can make you go permanently blind if you'd rather me do that," Sakura increased the amount of healing chakra in her fingertips. Itachi's sight had significantly improved since she had started healing his eyes, it would never be back to normal but he wouldn't have to walk around half-blind now. The strain that the Sharingan put on the eyes was incredible; it was almost as if the bloodline trait was a curse rather then an asset. "Now, do you think it will work or not?"

"Do not get your hopes up, Sakura," Itachi was the only one Sakura could really come to for advice, for the exception of Sasori but then again she wouldn't want to ask him for suggestions on her little plan…that wouldn't go over very well. It was a good thing she had been summoned to work on his eyesight. She supposed she could have asked Tobi, but that whole seriousness bit might have just been a fluke or something, however Kisame and Hidan were completely out of the question. Not only would they give horrible advice and make fun of her, but both of them wouldn't hesitate to tell the whole town, including Sasori. Itachi might not be thrilled to hear her worries and woes but he didn't have a choice. "However, if it does go smoothly as planned, he will at least reflect on situation and question your intentions."

"That's what I figured."

"Yes, and as promised I will carry out my part of your plan. Mind you, I will only do what you have asked because you have improved my eyesight."

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura inwardly rolled her eyes; Itachi was a piece of work. She lightened the chakra output slowly down to nothing and then pulled back. Itachi's opinion helped calm her nerves a bit; he had at least confirmed what she had anticipated to happen. But even with his input she was still mentally shaking in her boots, it was a huge risk that she would be taking even though the actual task was fairly simple. Even if it was correctly executed there was still a big chance that it could fail and the puppet master would never speak to her again, "You're all done for today."

* * *

"We should get going," Sasuke Uchiha frowned, watching the crouched over Suigetsu Houzuki tend to a mourning dove with a broken wing. How foolish, what was the point anyways? The bird would soon die from the shock of not only being attacked but being held by a human. He turned to look over at Jugo and Karin, both who were looking somewhat impatient, Karin much more than Jugo. "We need to make it to Sunagakura within the next three days; at the rate we're going it'll take us at least a week."

Suigetsu let the frightened mourning dove take cover under an evergreen bush and stood up. Didn't they have any sympathy for the poor animal? They would make it to Sunagakura on time; a short stop wouldn't hurt anyone. How were they supposed to make Sasuke's 'brilliant' plan work anyways? They would never get the two members alone, especially not Sakura Haruno who would be heavily guarded.

"Sasuke-kun? Couldn't you just kill Itachi? Do we really need to bother with the other brat?" Karin asked, her timid tone incredibly fake. She did not want another girl to interfere with her chance at the Uchiha; it was already hard enough to get his attention. If it came down to it she could always overdose her with drugs and make her death look like an accident so she could keep Sasuke all to herself. No competition is the best competition after all.

"We have been over this already, Karin. Sakura Haruno is an asset that we cannot do without," The red headed girl was already getting on his nerves and they had only been traveling for a few days, she was such a nuisance. He didn't think he could do with two infatuated females; one was annoying enough as it was. Needless to say, they were both necessary despite how irritating they were, it would be a lot worse though once they were together with constant non-stop bickering and fighting. It was bad enough with Karin and Suigetsu always arguing.

Defeated, Karin darted off towards the east followed by the rest of Team Snake. It didn't matter anyways, she wouldn't let some brat from her love's old village steal him from her; she would make sure of that.

* * *

Akito Kurosuki sat slumped over on an old couch, it springs sticking out through the cushions in several places. He was bored, Orochimaru hadn't let him go out in days, there was nothing more that he wanted to do than go find his beloved Sakura Haruno. It had been too long since he had seen her last; he wondered how she was doing with out him. She probably missed him something dreadful, but that would all be fixed in due time. His rescue of her wasn't a matter of how it was a matter of when; he would save her from that wretched Akasuna no Sasori and his little Akatsuki friends. How dare they keep her from him? They would pay for keeping her hostage, he would see to that.

'_Oh my dearest Sakura-chan, I hope you're managing without me…'_

He ran his finger down one of the blades of his deceased brother's swords, watching the blood drip onto the floor from the cut he had just made. Orochimaru would need to send him out soon enough; his arms needed healing after all. The Sannin was pretty much useless without his jutsus, although he still sent fear into the hearts of all who opposed him. If he didn't have Kabuto and himself Orochimaru would be rather vulnerable, villages like Konohagakura wouldn't hesitate to send out troops if he was all by himself.

Licking the blood off the blade, his grey eyes narrowed as his lips curled into a grin. The pink haired kunoichi from Konoha would be his in no time. He would spoil her like no one else could; she would have a life fit for a queen. She wouldn't have to long for his return for much longer; he would come for her soon. No one would get in his way of making his dream become a reality, not even Akasuna no Sasori.

'_Don't worry, my precious Sakura-chan. I'll rescue you from the Red Dawn's clutches…'_

* * *

The Kyuubi container flung open the door to the Godaime's office, "Tsunade-baachan!"

"Calm down, Naruto," The Toad Sage ordered, grinning. He had just returned from a long mission which called for him to travel far and wide to gather information on the Akatsuki's whereabouts.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto Uzumaki jumped up and down excitedly. This was what he had been waiting for, after weeks and weeks they could finally pursue his captured friend. Jiraiya was sure to know exactly where she was after all that time he had spent away from the village, "Tsunade-baachan, does this mean we're going after Sakura-chan!?"

"Naruto, calm yourself," Kakashi Hatake appeared with a poof, Icha Icha Paradise in hand. By the look on Tsunade's face she must have called for him hours ago. "Let Jiraiya and Tsunade-sama speak before you draw any conclusions."

"Naruto," Tsunade folded her fingers together and supported her head on them. "We now know that Akatsuki Headquarters is in the area of Amegakura—"

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto headed for the door when the scruff of his collar was grabbed by Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei?! What are you doing? We have to go rescue Sakura-chan!"

"Not so fast Naruto, you can't just waltz into Akatsuki territory and challenge the entire organization," Kakashi pulled him back into the room and seated him on a chair in front of Tsunade's desk.

"That's right Naruto, it's going to take careful planning in order for us to pull this off," Jiraiya sighed, Naruto could be so rash when his emotions were high. "I know you've been waiting for a long time to rescue her, but it's going to take more than brute strength to take down the Akatsuki, we can't send out too many troops at once or the village will be rendered helpless."

"Also, remember Naruto, the Akatsuki are after you as well," Tsunade didn't know why she was bothering to tell Naruto this. Not only did he already know but he wasn't going to care anyways, his friend's life was on the line. She hesitated a moment before she said the next line, careful not to crush the Jinchuuriki's heart; it pained her as well, "Remember Naruto, Sakura is with the Akatsuki now. I know it's hard to imagine, but in reality we really don't know whose side she's on anymore."

Silence.

Naruto looked from Kakashi to Jiraiya, but neither of them would meet his gaze. That meant they also were uncertain about Sakura's loyalty. He shook his head, unable to believe that any of them could even _think_ of the possibility, "Sakura-chan would never truly become one of them! Sakura-chan was _forced_ to become one of them! Sakura-chan loves Konoha and its people! Sakura-chan would never betray us!"

With that he dashed out of the room, unable to be around them anymore. He knew his Sakura-chan, he knew that she had been kidnapped and forced into Akatsuki's ranks. There wasn't even the slightest possibility that she could have agreed to become one of them let alone _devote_ herself to them.

Tsunade looked from Jiraiya to Kakashi and then nodded, "Kakashi, you are to set up the team. Jiraiya, you are to make sure that Naruto stays in the village; he is your responsibility and if anything happens to him you will be held accountable. You are excused."

The two of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving Tsunade all alone in her room behind her desk. She had papers to file and mission forms to fill out, as if her life couldn't get even more hectic now she had to worry about Naruto being reckless and going out after Sakura by himself.

'_I hope you're right about Sakura, Naruto…'_

* * *

Night had fallen already over Akatsuki Headquarters and the six of them stood out in the cold and snow freezing their tails off. Kisame and Hidan were fixing last minute errors in their setup of the fireworks, making sure that their launch would be completely flawless. Tobi had tried to offer his help several times but the two of them declined in a manner that was no-so-polite.

At Sakura's request, Itachi was to watch over everyone and make sure no one interfered with her plan which would probably be harder than it seemed. Tobi would most likely be running all over the yard in panic from the noise of the fireworks and Hidan and Kisame would probably be trying to tie him down to one of the larger rockets that they had. He didn't have control over what Sasori did, that would be up to Sakura and fate to handle.

"Let's go back over there so we can get a better look at them," Sakura tugged gently on the hem of Sasori's sleeve, signaling for him to follow her to the other side of the yard far away from the others. If she couldn't do that there would be no way she could accomplish what needed to be done.

Luckily for her, he followed her back near a grove of trees. She would have liked to get him actually _in_ the woods, although that would cause him to be suspicious as they wouldn't be able to see the fireworks.

Sasori pulled out the pocket watch that Sakura had given him as a Christmas present and checked the time, "They should get going or the day will be over before they set them off."

That wouldn't be good, if there were no fireworks that would completely ruin everything. It seemed like there were a lot more things that could possibly go wrong than she had anticipated. Most of those things were in the hands of Itachi so all she could do was pray that he would do his part and that Hidan and Kisame would get the show on the road.

"Everyone ready?" Kisame called out to the four spectators, waving his hand in the air to signal that they were ready. Sakura's heart pounded faster and faster in her chest and she twirled her necklace around and around to try and calm her nerves. Everything would be fine; it would all go as planned.

Sakura saw light which meant Kisame and Hidan had struck a few matches; she braced herself and then relaxed as the sky was lit up with explosions. The dark sky was filled with the colors of red, blue, green, and white as they continued to launch them at a steady pace. Mechanically, she moved closer to the ex-Suna-nin without him noticing her.

'_Step one and two…check…check…'_

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Sakura asked, watching different kinds and colors explode and illuminate the night sky. They really were spectacular; she wasn't just trying to make conversation. Some of them made a screaming noise as they were shot up into the air and some of them stayed close to the ground as they showered it with burning ashes. Hidan and Kisame were going crazy, if they didn't stop sending them off so quickly they would be done before the New Year even begun.

"Yes, they are. It's been so long since I've seen fireworks, I can't even remember the last time I did," Sasori kept his eyes locked on to the sky, which was a good thing because Sakura took a step closer to him. "I think it might have been when the third Kazekage was coroneted."

"Was it as nice as this display?"

"No, I don't think there was nearly as many set off and they were all the same kind."

Minutes seemed like hours, if Sakura's anxiety level continued to go up as it was she would surely faint. Her eyes were now planted on Itachi and no longer the fireworks.

He turned a few moments later and gave her a curt nod, and then yelled something out to Hidan and Kisame.

Fireworks were being shot into the sky so fast that Sakura couldn't even begin to count them. This was it, this was the Grand Finale. Hidan and Kisame were screaming at each other, trying to hit Tobi with the remainder of the explosives. It felt as though her heart was lodged in the middle of her throat, if they stopped to look over at her and the Scorpion it would be all over for her. "What time is it? We should only have a few seconds left, right?"

Sasori pulled out his pocket watch again, nodding. He continued to stare at it for a few more moments and then began counting down. _'Step three…check…'_

"Ten."

'_Okay Sakura, this is it…'_

"Nine."

'_You can do it; you have to do it…'_

"Eight."

'_Just stay calm, it'll all be over in a few minutes…'_

"Seven."

'_It has to be done; it's the only way…'_

"Six."

'_I'll know soon enough…'_

"Five."

'_I won't be left out on a bench in the cold this time…'_

"Four."

'_This time will be different…'_

"Three."

'_I know it will be…'_

"Two."

'_Get ready…' _

"One."

'_NOW!'_

"Happy—" Sasori couldn't finish his sentence because the pink haired kunoichi had pressed her lips to his. He stood in shock for a moment and then as his senses came back to him she pulled back.

'_Mission accomplished…'_

"Happy New Year, Sasori-san," Turning, he saw that she was smiling up at him; her cheeks were a shade of red that wasn't from the cold.

"What was that for?"

"It's a New Year's tradition, silly. If someone kisses you right at the stroke of midnight you'll have good luck all year 'round." She giggled in such a way that Sasori would have normally found incredibly annoying. He would have never expected there to be a New Year's tradition quite like that, let alone for her to use it on him. Wouldn't it have made more sense for her to use it on someone she truly cared about?

"So I have good luck then, does that mean that you do too?"

"No, you would have had to kiss me back right at midnight."

"Oh," Sasori lifted up her chin and looked her straight in the eyes, his own were centimeters from her jade ones. He closed them for a moment to take in the aroma of fresh roses that came from her hair and then opened them again; Sakura could see a mischievous look in them. Smirking, he brushed his own lips against hers and quickly pulled back, "Maybe it'll work anyways."

**A/N: Looks like Sakura got even more than she had hoped for. I had to figure out a way that Sasori could 'return the favor' without completely destroying his personality…not that I haven't killed it already. xD At least I didn't have him going all 'ongz Sakura-chan I luvz j00'. xD Oh well, this story is under the 'romance' category so what do you expect? **

**Looks like three different groups are going to be pursuing Sakura now, she's just so popular. Akito's going to have a rude wake-up call (I seem to use that expression a lot. .) once he finds out that Sakura's got a thing for Sasori, especially now that she's actually admitted it to herself. Shame Sasori hasn't fallen for her quite yet.**


	11. The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

**Chapter Eleven: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black**

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune flung open the door to the Godaime's office, panting from running through the corridors and up the stairs. She clutched the doorknob and tried to catch her breath. "Tsunade-sama, this letter…"

"Shizune? What's wrong?" Tsunade hadn't seen her friend act like she was in a long time. Something must be up; she noticed that the Jonin was trembling as she walked towards her desk. "Shizune?"

Shizune handed the Godaime a letter, its envelope was black and as Tsunade flipped it over she noticed its seal had been stamped with the impression of a cloud. She hesitated for a moment and looked up at her friend, then she slowly reached to her right and grabbed a kunai to slit the envelope open.

She took in a deep breath, reached into the packet and pulled out a letter. As she started to unfold it, a lock of pink hair fell out. The two of them gasped, was that Sakura's hair? Tsunade hesitated yet again and slowly finished opening the letter. She dropped it in surprise as a rather grotesque looking red scorpion scurried across her desk and faced her, taking a bow.

"Hello, Hokage-sama," It spoke, its voice a low growl. "By now you will have realized that this is a letter from the Akatsuki and that is indeed a lock of Sakura Haruno's hair. You will be pleased to know that the head in which the hair came from is safe…for the time being."

Part of Tsunade wanted to squash the scorpion but the other part told her to keep listening.

"However, it's only a matter of time before I get bored of her…you wouldn't want that to happen, right Hokage-sama?"

"Tsunade-sama!"

"Quiet, Shizune!"

"That's right, be quiet little girl," The scorpion hissed, wanting to get on with what it had to say. "Now, I believe we all know what will happen to your precious student if I grow tired of her, isn't that right Hokage-sama? You wouldn't want the _head_ from which that lock was taken to be the next thing I send to you, correct? You could always mount it in your office though, I'm sure it would spark quite a bit of conversation."

Just who was this sick bastard? Tsunade's knuckles were white from clenching them so hard, once this bug was finished talking she was going to smash it flat. Thoughts were running through her head about how poorly her student was being treated, she was probably locked up in some cage in a dark dungeon somewhere starving.

"Now Hokage-sama, we both know that I know very well how to infiltrate your village, no matter how strict the security is. That leaves you with two choices, _you_ either come to me or _I_ come to you. You're going to have to choose which of the two evils you wish to follow through with."

And with that the scorpion burst into flames but as it burned into ashes it said just one more thing:

"My partner was originally your dear friend Orochimaru, seems like we're turning into equal threats to your village…"

* * *

Sakura had been lucky, but the previous night was only the beginning of her quest to win over the puppet master's affections. Like Itachi had said, he wasn't going to just admit it there on the spot; he might not even have any emotions for her. But at least it would get him thinking about it, he would question himself, especially after the fact that he had sort of 'made a move' on her. She had only won the battle, not the war.

She closed her eyes and gently ran a finger across her bottom lip; she could still feel his against hers if she really concentrated. They hadn't been stiff and dead like the puppet body he had possessed months prior, they were soft and alive. His smell wasn't of preservatives; it was sort of a…well she couldn't really place it but whatever it was she wished she could have taken it in longer. The scent was the same as the one on his pillow that Sakura was clutching tightly to her chest.

Her intuition told her not to go overboard, that there was always the chance that he would never return the same feelings that she felt towards him, but it was hard not to. Within the past day, or rather hours, she had admitted to herself about how she truly felt and now she found herself head-over-heels in love with him. There was really nothing more that she could do other than let destiny run its course, with a little help and guidance from her end of the deal.

Now all she could think about was him, she spent most of her time that she wasn't around him daydreaming about him, and the time she did spend with him she cherished. If anything her infatuation with him was at an even higher level than it was with Sasuke Uchiha, and she had taken that to the extreme with him.

So what was her next step towards the end result she desired? She hadn't figured that one out yet. Most likely she wasn't going to have such an ideal scenario to work with, she'd just have to improvise and make one herself. But right now she didn't have time to work on that, she would need full concentration to map out something like that, right now she had to worry about going shopping with Hidan and Kisame.

* * *

"What did you just say, you little brat?" Hidan and Kisame stood looming over a bunch of kids who had followed the three of them down the street from the grocery store in Amegakura. One of them got the brilliant idea to throw a rock at Sakura, whom was now standing a few feet watching the two missing-nin argue with the group.

"I said your girlfriend's a slut!" Sure there was truth behind the idea that there was more power in numbers but numbers would only take you so far when you were dealing with three Akatsuki members, especially ones like Hidan and Kisame.

"Look you little fuckers, you better fucking run off to mommy and daddy before I fucking slice all of your fucking heads off, only I can call the bitch a 'slut'!" Sakura was somewhat flattered by Hidan's comment, she was sure he meant well…right? Still, if the kids didn't shut up and run away, Hidan really would chop them up. "Hidan, calm down, let's just keep going."

"Yeah, listen to the whore, she knows what she's talking about. Get off our turf!"

"What are you, some kind of little gang?" Kisame snarled, reaching back for Samehada. Sakura smacked her palm against her head, what could she do? Once Kisame and Hidan got going there was no stopping them, the kids would just have to learn their lesson. She just hoped that their parents wouldn't be picking them up in body bags after the two of them were done.

"Didn't I tell you kids to choose your battles wisely?"

Sakura and the other two whirled around to see a young man around the age that Sasori physically appeared. He was a sickly pale color, his grey hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and his eyes were jet-black like a doll's. He smiled kindly at the three of them, "I'm sorry, my brother and his friends tend to get carried away. Had they known that you were Akatsuki I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered you, I thank you for treating them as kindly as you have."

"It's okay," Sakura smiled. "No harm done, really."

The looks on Hidan and Kisame's faces said otherwise, luckily the young man didn't seem to notice or if he did he chose to ignore it.

"I'm Taoki," The young man held out his hand to Sakura, who shook it. "And you are…?"

"Sakura, and this is Hidan and Kisame." She pointed to the two of them who seemed preoccupied examining a rock on the ground before them. "It's nice to meet you, Taoki-san."

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Sakura," He kneeled down on one knee and gently grabbed her hand, brushing his lips against it, making her blush while Kisame rolled his eyes and Hidan repeated what Taoki said, mocking him. Sakura shot both of them an angry glare and the two straightened their stance and plastered a fake smile on each of their faces. They could be so embarrassing, "Would you do me the honor in joining me for a late lunch, Miss Sakura?"

"I'm sorry, Taoki-san, but I'm afraid me and my friends have to get going. It was nice meeting you," She grabbed a piece of her robes on either side and curtsied before signaling to the two men to follow, "Some other time, okay?"

Hidan and Kisame glared back at him as they continued to walk along and then looked to each other, nodding. Something wasn't right about that man but neither of them could put their finger on it. He just seemed so familiar.

* * *

Sasori, Hidan, Kisame, Pein, and Itachi sat at the kitchen table. Pein had ordered Tobi to keep Sakura preoccupied while the five of them discussed business. As always, there was a tense, uncomfortable atmosphere in the room due to their Leader's presence; Hidan and Kisame were even on their best behavior which was saying something, especially for Hidan.

"Our sources in Suna have informed me of the presence of Team Snake in the area," Sasori said, the tone of his voice even more serious than usual. His arms were crossed and he was leaning back slightly in his chair, "That means that there are two parties currently in pursuit. I sent a letter to Konohagakura's Hokage earlier this week, they should be entering the hunt soon enough. I must say I was rather surprised to hear that they haven't already formed a team to retrieve her."

"Very good, Sasori," Pein folded his hands and leaned forward. "Any news on Orochimaru and Akito Kurosuki?"

"Nothing," Itachi frowned, he had his Sharingan off for the first time in a long while as his sight had improved enough to allow him to. "It's almost as if both of them disappeared off the face of the planet. I had previously informed nearly all of our sources in neighboring countries of Otogakura and even those within it to watch out for those two, but none of them have reported anything. It could just be the calm before the storm."

"Orochimaru isn't one to stay dormant for long, he'll rear his ugly head soon enough. He needs Sakura more than anything, no one else will do."

"We need to eliminate him as soon as possible."

"Otogakura's fucking growing too; they've almost fucking doubled in fucking size."

"I've heard they've become allies with Kumogakura. That isn't a good sign; it could mean that they're planning on starting another war. As Kumo is already allies with Kusagakura, three large villages could easily overpower Konohagakura. I'm sure we all agree that Konoha would be their initial target."

"They are already allied with Suna, if we were to go ahead and join the battle Otogakura would be completely over-powered, even if we are not allies with Konohagakura."

"Orochimaru would fucking never expect the fucking Akatsuki to engage in war against fucking Konoha, it would completely fucking surprise him."

"I believe it's settled then, if Konohagakura were to be attacked we would enter the war ourselves as a third party."

"What about the plan, Leader-sama?"

"We should consider this a war before the War to End All Wars as we do not yet have all of the Tailed Beasts within our power."

"I'm worried about Kurosuki; something tells me that we shouldn't underestimate the brat."

"Yes, I feel that way as well. We should definitely be on the lookout for him; he seemed very interested in Sakura the last we met," Sasori's eyes narrowed at Itachi's comment, Akito Kurosuki's last act towards the kunoichi was still fresh in his mind. "We know nothing about his capabilities; we should consider him a great threat as a precaution."

"Little fucker, I'll teach him to mess with the slut."

"Kisame, you previously stated that Akito Kurosuki was a candidate for the Seven Swordsman, correct? The books have no record of exactly how he came to be with Orochimaru but perhaps some of the Sannin's former henchmen in the Amegakura prison know something about it. I'll leave it to you and Hidan to dig into that."

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"Itachi, you are to contact our sources again and see if any of them have any information that they might be withholding from us."

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"Sasori, you are to keep constant watch over Sakura. Do not let her out of your sight."

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"Very well, you are all excused."

* * *

The bar that Kisame and Sasori sat at had almost cleared out since the two of them arrived. They were used to it, everyone always left once the Akatsuki were present. Sure it was bad for business, but no store owner, bartender, etc. would ever ask for them to leave.

Between the two of them, they had about ten sake bottles most of which had been consumed by Kisame, although Sasori wasn't exactly a lightweight either. Kisame had basically begged him to come along with him, something he never ever did, so Sasori knew something was up. The shark man hadn't made any indication as to what it was yet, but he was sure he'd find out soon enough. Hopefully he'd find out before the ex-Kiri-nin either vomited all over the floor or passed out. If Kisame did manage to pass out, well there was no way that Sasori was going to carry him back home; he'd just have to spend the night at the bar.

"Hey, hey Sasori, those girls over…over there are lookin' at you, maybe they like you," Kisame's voice was heavily slurred and he nearly fell off the stool he was sitting upon as he pointed over to a group of females eyeing his comrade. "Maybe you should…you should like…you should like go over and see 'em."

Sasori clicked his tongue in annoyance, "I'm not interested."

"Why…why not?" Kisame drained yet another bottle of sake and started on the next. "They…they look kinda…hey I know I'll call 'em over!"

The puppet master nearly knocked over his own sake bottle to protest against Kisame's idea but it was too late, he had already summoned them. He slapped his face with his palm and tried to get up to walk out but Kisame had grabbed him by the scruff of his cloak to hold him down.

"Hey…hey girls, this is…this is Sasori…he's single…" The shark man motioned for one of the girls to sit beside Sasori.

"And not looking," Sasori muttered under his breath as Kisame moved to the next chair to let another girl sit next to him. He moved his red eyes just enough to get a glimpse of the two girls on either side of him, ignoring the three behind him. They were attractive enough, but like he had said: he wasn't looking.

"Sasori, huh? That's a name I've never heard before, is it foreign?" The girl on his right outlined his jaw with her finger; he hated being touched. _'I guess this is the part where I grin and bare it…'_

"Uh yes, I'm originally from Sunagakura," Sasori tried to hide his agitation as best he could, he wanted nothing more than to dart out of the bar and drown himself. Was this what Kisame had intended? He wanted to set him up with some random female? The puppet master had come in contact with enough whores in his life; he didn't want to have anything to do with anymore.

"Oh wow," The girl on his left took a strand of his red hair and started twirling it between her fingers. "Are you a ninja or something then?"

"Yes, yes I am," Didn't they recognize his robes? How could they live in Amegakura and not know who the Akatsuki were? Or were they just playing dumb? "Kisame, shouldn't we be going now?"

"No, no you…you keep talking to…to them…Sasori ol' pal," Kisame had obviously missed the hint in Sasori's voice; of course he was so drunk he probably couldn't have noticed it anyways.

"Oh we like a nice, _strong_ ninja," The girl to his left purred as she ran her tongue across her upper lip while the other one began unzipping his robes to expose his chest that was only covered by a mesh shirt. This was the end, Sasori was never going to make it back to Headquarters alive; they were going to drag him to their apartment or something, tie him down and do God-awful things to him before they killed him.

Kisame watched, with a drunken smirk on his face, the two females continue to tempt the puppet master. One of them was kissing his neck while the other whispered things into his ear. Sasori himself looked as though he was going to vomit all over the counter in front of him.

"Sasori-sama, Sasori-sama…come with us…" One of the girls behind him pulled his stool out from under the bar counter, allowing for the girl to his right to climb up upon his lap. His red eyes widened as he looked up at her, it was almost as if he was frightened or scared. She leaned forward, her lips slightly opened and her eyes closed, closer and closer until—

Crash! The puppeteer had thrown the girl across the room into the wall, knocking over several tables and chairs in the process. She cowered, curled up in a little ball, afraid of the possibility that he may pursue the situation further. The surrounding females had scattered away from him, their seductive aura changed to fear. Sasori remained calm and collective all the same as he left the building.

* * *

"Don't you ever do that again, Kisame," He was fuming now that he had left the scene; walking as fast as he could away from the village, the shark man was having a hard time keeping up with him from both drunkenness and laughter. "How dare you beg for me to come with you and then do something like _that_?"

"Oh c'mon Sasori ol' pal, we both know you…you loved it," Kisame slapped him hard on the back taking another long swig from his sake bottle. "They were all…all over you."

"I noticed. Never again will I go drinking with you."

"What…what didn't you like…like all those pretty girls…girls hanging all over you? I wish they…they did that to me. I thought I was…was doing you a favor."

"A favor? I think not."

"Oh don't be such a…such a…a…party pooper."

Headquarters was just down the road, once he got there he'd take a long shower to get rid of the disgusting, dirty feeling he now felt since those wretched whores touched him. He would lock himself in his room and never have to see Kisame again. He'd live there for the remainder of his days with Sakura who'd bring him his meals.

"Hey c'mon Sasori…I…I thought you'd like…you'd like…you'd like a nice…a nice girl…"

"No thank you, I'm fine." Sarcasm was laced in his words but the shark man obviously didn't get it.

"What…what c'mon…I mean you're…you've gotta be like…like sixty years old…isn't it time you found…you found a nice…a nice girl?"

"Those whores were not interested in a relationship, Kisame," Sasori chose not to bother correcting Kisame on his age, it wasn't worth the argument. He was more concerned with thinking about how he was going to murder him without Leader finding out. Maybe if he used one of his more 'silent' poisons he could make it seem like an accident, "Besides, a shinobi isn't supposed to have emotional attachments."

"Yeah right, that's…that's complete…complete bullshit."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…yeah everyone…everyone needs to have someone."

"I don't, I have no need for any type of emotions. Emotions like that just get in the way."

"You're such…you're such a hypocrite…"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! My body might not be cold like it used to be but my heart still is."

"What…what about _Sakura_?"

Sasori stopped dead in his tracks and spun around on the spot to face the shark-nin, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You know…you know what it means."

"No, I don't. Enlighten me."

"Hey…hey don't use big words…I can't…I can't comprehend what they mean right…right now."

"Tell me what you mean by that!" Sasori clicked his tongue. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what Kisame was about to tell him, it was probably better if he didn't. At this point he didn't want to bother making his death looked like an accident, he didn't care if Leader found out as long as his death was painful!

"Oh c'mon, you know what I mean."

"No, I don't. That's why I told you to tell me."

"Yeah yeah…well…well…"

"Would you hurry up and tell me?!"

"Oh…oh right…Well you know…I mean Sakura…Sakura didn't just…didn't just find that necklace of hers on the…on the ground somewhere."

"I don't understand what you're getting at."

"Oh c'mon, Sasori. We both know that you…that you gave that to her."

"So what if I did? It was a Christmas present; you gave her a present as well."

"Yeah but…but mine didn't…didn't cost me an arm and a leg."

Sasori felt himself go red in the face; whether it was from anger or embarrassment he didn't know. He wasn't accustom to the feeling of embarrassment so he really didn't know what it felt like, but maybe it was what he was feeling right now. "It wasn't _that_ expensive."

"Yeah…yeah whatever," Kisame obviously didn't buy into it, even though he was three sheets in the wind. "Even if it wasn't…you…you don't buy your _friends_ something like…like that."

They were standing on the front porch of the Headquarters front door, feet away from its warmth, but Sasori refused to go a step forward. "Just what are you getting at, Kisame?"

"Oh c'mon Sasori…we…we both know…we both know you have…you have a _thing_ for Sakura."

The puppeteer grabbed the drunken Kisame's neck and held him to the wall; his nose was centimeters away from the shark man's, his teeth bared and his crimson eyes livid with rage. He hadn't been so furious in a long time, "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"We…we both know what I meant," Kisame choked, he attempted to pull Sasori's hands away from his neck with his own but he couldn't. He was already lightheaded from the alcohol but it was getting worse, he was growing fainter and fainter. He could still see the fury that was in the Scorpion's eyes even though his own vision was getting very blurry.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sasori let go of Kisame and let his body drop to the floor. He would have liked have kicked or stabbed him, but Sakura Haruno was standing in the doorway. Her hair was damp and she was wearing a pink sleeping yukata that matched her hair as well as the necklace that he had given her which had started the whole argument.

"No."

* * *

Sasori finished tying the golden obi around him and swung the door open, letting it crash into the wall. He was dripping wet; he hadn't bothered to dry himself off. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his entrance, picking a card from Tobi's hand. "Tobi. Out."

Tobi cocked his head in confusion and jumped off the bed, exiting the room. The kunoichi still on the bed frowned watching her roommate throw back the covers on his side. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," He pulled the covers over his head as he climbed into bed. "Good night."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sakura reached over and gently pulled them back just enough to see his red hair. Whatever it was, it was obviously bothering him. "You'll feel better if you do."

"Just—just go to bed, Sakura." The puppet master's voice was muffled since his face was buried in his pillow. He attempted to reach for the covers but couldn't find them, instead he waved his hand around in the air until he latched on to Sakura's and let go quickly. "Hnn."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Her voice was soothing, just from hearing it his anger was slowly waning. Still, he didn't want to talk about what Kisame and he had argued about. Even if he did want to talk about it he couldn't tell _her_, if he told her…well the outcome wouldn't be good. "What happened with you and Kisame? I thought you two were just going out drinking."

"Nothing happened."

"Sasori-san, something _obviously_ happened or else you wouldn't have your face in your pillow like that."

"Kisame was just acting like a child."

"Uh huh, and that's it? You're _that_ angry over Kisame acting like he always does?"

"Yes, exactly. Now let me go to bed."

"Sasori-san, just tell me what's bothering you, I promise I won't laugh."

'_Ugh just great, she's never going to leave me alone,' _He could tell her half the story, right? That wouldn't hurt, she'd never figure out the rest of it. Sitting up, he scratched his head and faced her, trying to act as calm as possible. "Kisame attempted to 'set me up' with these whores."

"Oh, and it didn't work out?" He thought he heard a bit of hurt in her tone, but that was probably just from all the alcohol he had drank. After all, alcohol not only makes your vision blurry but you have difficulty hearing as well.

"No it did work out, that was the problem." Sasori frowned; he was going to have to be careful not to hint to anything. If Sakura found out what Kisame had said to him she'd probably never speak to him again; he didn't want that to happen, he liked talking to her. She was really the only one in the house who he could stand having a conversation with, now that he though about it she was really the only one period that he could stand having a conversation with. "He kept egging them on."

"I would be mad if Kisame did that to me, too." Now he thought he heard anger in Sakura's words, but he brushed it off again. It was just the alcohol getting to him; it had been a long time since he had drank so much. "So what happened?"

"I managed to get away, obviously," He looked up at the ceiling and then back to her. "Kisame was apparently intent on 'getting me laid'."

Her jade eyes seemed colder than usual; they didn't have their normal warmth to them. Of course, he was probably just imagining things. He laid back down, this time on his back with the covers free from his face, "Love is for the weak."

"It is not!" Sakura wished she had Haku with her, "Love is what makes you stronger!"

"Pfft," Sasori looked over at her, she was rather red in the face, apparently she felt strongly about the topic. "Love is just another emotion that gets in the way. Shinobi are not supposed to have emotions, especially not love. Emotional attachments lead to careless mistakes."

"That's not true at all! If you care for someone you'll protect them from danger!"

"Which will lead to mistakes that will cost you your life, it's not worth it. In Suna we are taught to forget about those emotions, apparently Konoha doesn't honor the Shinobi Code."

"How are you supposed to protect your village if you don't love it?"

"Simple, if you are ordered to protect it then it shall be done."

"If someone who loved their village was put up against someone who was ordered to protect it who would win?"

"Well that's difficult to answer seeing as I'm not aware of their strength or capabilities."

"Say they were equal."

"That is impossible."

"Look, we're 'what if'-ing here."

"Very well, I would have to say—"Sasori paused, he wasn't sure as to exactly what the answer was. In truth he'd never really thought about it in that sort of scenario, as there would never be a chance for two opponents to be equal. So what was the correct response then? "—That the answer does not matter because the situation could never happen."

"You're just avoiding the answer!" Sakura fumed. "Okay, how about this? Do you think _Pein and Konan_ follow the stupid Shinobi Code?!"

He paused, thinking. How exactly was he supposed to respond to that? He couldn't call his Leader a fool for ignoring the code, if Leader caught wind of that he'd have his head on a platter for sure, "Whatever, just go to sleep."

"No don't you 'whatever' me! You admit that you're wrong, you know you are!"

"I'm not wrong, emotions aren't meant for shinobi."

"So Pein and Konan aren't shinobi then?"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then what _did_ you mean?!"

"I meant—"Sasori rolled over on his side away from her. She had pretty much defeated him, it had been a long time since he had lost an argument, she was much too passionate on the subject. How could she have proved the Shinobi Code wrong? In a way she was right though, if you didn't love your country you couldn't really protect it as well as those who did. Orders only go so far; those who are devoted to their country are much more likely to succeed than those who don't. And with his Leader and Konan, one couldn't deny that they were in love, even if they weren't out in the open about it, they were shinobi and good ones at that. "—Just go to bed, Sakura."

"No," Sakura pulled him back over so he faced her. Her brow was furrowed; she really wasn't going to just let the whole thing go, "You're going to admit that you're wrong, you're going to admit that love isn't a weakness and you're going to _mean it_."

There was really no way out of this one, she had him trapped. He had admitted to himself that love wasn't really a weakness, and that was painful enough, but admitting it to her was a whole different story. If he admitted it to her then it was final. The puppet master had felt so strongly on the subject, that emotions were for the weak, that was what he was always told, but now that he had thought about it he knew he had been wrong, "…Love isn't a weakness."

Sakura smiled sweetly and patted him gently on the head, turning the light off and lying down beside him, "You can go to bed now."

* * *

Sasori was still awake hours after she had told him to go to sleep; his whole philosophy on life had just been turned upside-down. How was he just supposed to fall asleep after that?

Did that mean he could feel emotions now? That it was okay? The thought scared him a bit, he hadn't felt any emotions like 'love' since the death of his parents, how was he just supposed to just start feeling them again? His heart wouldn't have to be cold anymore; it could be just as warm as the rest of his new body.

Now that he was allowed to love, what would he love? He didn't exactly feel devoted to the Akatsuki; the whole World Domination plan just wasn't something he could truly dedicate himself to. There weren't really any material items that were really precious to him, except maybe his one of his puppets but then again those were just a dime a dozen. Was he supposed to care for someone then? And if he was, who? He couldn't see himself protecting someone like Kisame or Hidan with his life.

It was a difficult concept to grasp; he had spent most of his life without positive emotions. Sure, he felt anger, frustration and other such emotions but love and affection were a whole different ballpark. He couldn't even remember what it felt like to love someone, or be loved. His parents loved him, and he had loved them but that feeling was long forgotten. Would he ever even be able to be loved again or return the feeling?

If he even was able to find love, what would he do? He didn't know how he was supposed to act, no one had ever told him. There needed to be some sort of instruction manual on the matter. Pein and Konan were in love, but they tried to hide it from the world. Then again, if he ever did find love he would do the same. No one need know about his personal life.

The puppet master sighed, he didn't need to get so worked up over it, he hadn't even found something or someone to love yet. It would probably be a long time before he found someone like that, someone he could really devote himself to.

He began to fall off into the Realm of Nod as his mind relaxed from all the racing it had been doing. The thoughts he hadn't finished could wait for another day, he needn't rush into things. It wasn't as if he was just going to search for someone or something to love just to be able to.

But just as he had almost drifted far enough into sleep Kisame's words played faintly in his ears causing him to bolt up, shaking:

'_What…what about _Sakura_?'_

**A/N: You have no idea how many times I've re-written that ending. **

**I'm not sure how everyone's going to react to this chapter. I don't really like it at all, I can't seem to figure out why though…I guess it's many different things.**

**I had to get Sasori to admit that love isn't a weakness and this was really the only way that I could think of doing so (Obviously I'm not very creative). I had a rather difficult time with the whole argument over the Shinobi Code… I couldn't really remember the reasons as to why love conquered over orders…oh well. In Naruality (Yes, I just totally combined 'Naruto' and 'Reality' together) I'm sure Sasori wouldn't really just admit it like that, I'm sure he probably would have put up more of a fight (and won), but he was tired and uhh…I guess the alcohol made him less…argumentative or something. xD Just go along with it people.**

**Every situation in this chapter serves a purpose though, that's why I kept going with it instead of scrapping it. Feel free to flame it in the little review box though.**

**The next chapter will be much better, I promise. You'll learn more about Akito Kurosuki's past with Orochimaru and stuff. Oh, and Sasori rains on Sakura's lunch-date parade. I hope 'Taoki' isn't really a word either.**

**And can you tell I've never really seen anyone drunk? Well, I have on TV. but I never studied as to how they acted…I'm sure it was nothing like how I made Kisame be. . I live in a box.**

**For some strange reason that I cannot explain I kept imagining Sasori speaking with a British accent as I re-read this thing. I guess it's 'cause I try and make him speak all proper and mature, that's just how I picture him (Yeah, that's totally not a typical American stereotype right there). **


	12. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

**Chapter Twelve: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing**

"Hidan, over here."

The sadistic masochist walked towards the cell which Kisame Hoshigake stood in front of. The two of them had been searching for hours, questioning the prisoners of Amegakura's prison complex, looking for anyone that might have information on the history of Akito Kurosuki. They were in an area of the compound that housed only Otogakura fugitives, experiments, and villagers. Although Akito Kurosuki was originally from Kirigakura, the Otogakura citizens would be the ones to have information on him. "We've found what we've been looking for."

Hidan reached the cell and stood next to Kisame, the prisoner contained behind its bars wasn't exactly what he had expected. The man was not large, burly, or even deformed, instead he was old and shriveled, cowering in the corner in filth. He looked as though he was on his deathbed, how could this man have been one of Orochimaru's specimens? "So what does this fucking bastard have to tell us?"

The old man flinched at Hidan's language; it was obvious that he was terribly frightened as he attempted to push himself further against the wall behind him as if to escape somehow. Kisame gave Hidan a look that signaled for him to keep quiet and let him do the talking, "So, old man. You say you're one of Orochimaru's experiments?"

On that note the man seemed to relax, in fact he uncurled himself enough to face the two of them. Kisame had said the right thing, the old man wanted to have his story heard before he passed away, "That's right, I am one of Orochimaru-sama's immortality test subjects."

His honorific usage signified that he was still loyal to his experimenter, which was something that Kisame did not expect, "And what exactly did you undergo?"

"I was injected at age twenty with a serum that Orochimaru-sama had concocted to produce immortality, obviously it failed," He said this with a twisted smile on his face, perhaps he had grown senile in his old age. "That was five years ago."

Kisame looked to Hidan; both of them wore the same bewildered expressions. How could this man whom looked ancient be only twenty-five years of age? "So the serum worked in the reverse affect, you aged quickly instead?"

"That is correct, and now I am approaching my last hours… I can feel it," The old man looked up at the ceiling, passed it, towards the Heavens. Tears had formed in his eyes, his last wish had come true, and he could now die in peace knowing that someone had heard what had happened. "And now, I shall tell you of Akito Kurosuki."

After hours of searching they were finally going to hear what they had came for. The information that they would obtain would become crucial to their plan to dispose of Orochimaru, "Go fucking on then, fucking tell us."

"When I was being observed for the effects of the serum," The old man wheezed. "A young boy named Akito was stationed to observe both the test subjects and the prisoners, both were placed in the same room on opposite sides."

The shark man had to stand back as the old man hacked and hacked, there was blood in the mucus that he was coughing up. "The boy, Akito was very silent and still as he sat on a stool in the middle of the room, crouched over hugging his knees, he never made a move but his eyes… his eyes they were so cold… the Devil's eyes."

The old man took in a large breath and continued coughing, managing to utter words in between, "He would scan over each of us, you could feel his gaze over you when those eyes reached your cell… you could feel death."

Hidan looked over to Kisame somewhat confused, how could this be the same Akito Kurosuki? When they had met in Otogakura, Kurosuki had seemed rather strange but he hadn't noticed anything particularly evil about him, nothing like they were accustomed to seeing. Kisame just gave him a curt nod and returned to the old man, "Please, go on."

"We were all so hungry, especially the prisoners… We hadn't been fed in days. There was this one boy, only about five or six years old, his cell was nearest to Akito's, who put his hands outside the bars and pleaded for Akito to let him have some food. The Devil… he sat there for a moment… then he stood up and he walked over to the boy and smiled kindly at him… but his eyes were still so cold… The boy, he didn't see them though, he laughed happily as Akito opened his cell door and led him out into the center of the room. Akito… He picked up a spoon that had been dropped… He told the boy to open his mouth… and when he did…"

He started hacking again, much worse than before, but Kisame urged him to continue. They had to know what Akito was capable of; this dying man was their only hope. "The boy… he opened his mouth and Akito put the spoon on his tongue…and then there was bright flash of light and then this burning smell…and then when we could see again… the boy was convulsing… blood was gushing out of all the orifices of his body…his eyes… his nose… his mouth… his insides were burnt… and then he died…and Akito…he was laughing, laughing so hard tears were streaming from his eyes… Crocodile tears… The Devil had electrocuted him… conducted it in his body."

So Akito was a psychopath, but wasn't necessarily dangerous unless up close. In fact, with that description he seemed even less hazardous than his older brother. Kisame and Hidan turned to leave when the old man called them back, "That's not all… I heard… I heard one of Orochimaru-sama's subordinates say after that… that Kurosuki… he once conducted enough electricity… in his body to cause a shockwave that… that took out… an entire country."

A country? Enough electricity to take out an _entire country_? Was that even possible? Kisame had known that Raiga Kurosuki could generate electricity in his body to shock his opponents and that he could control it with his swords, but Raiga could never take out half a village let alone a country with one wave. If it was true, that meant—"He's fucking Akatsuki level."

"Please…leave me…I do not wish to be seen like this… on my final hour…"

The two Akatsuki members left the man to die in peace, as they exited they did not speak to each other. Akito Kurosuki had been only ten years old when he had done such atrocious acts, now he was fifteen and capable of much more. They were dealing with something much bigger than they had ever dreamed of.

* * *

"Sakura-san, you cannot comprehend how happy I am. I was hoping you would join me someday for lunch," Sakura Haruno sat across from the pale black-haired boy she had met three days earlier. After he had 'saved' her and her two accompanies from 'danger' she felt obligated to submit to his request. It was only lunch after all, it wouldn't hurt.

"Oh, well I'm glad you offered, Taoki-san. It's been a long time since I've been able to eat out; I haven't since I was last in Konohagakura." She smiled warmly, swallowing a spoonful of soup. The last time she had had lunch with friends was with Ino and Hinata, the day before she was abducted by Sasori. Even though she was comfortably sitting across from her new acquaintance, in the small, cozy restaurant across the street from the jewelry store, it hadn't been easy for her to get to that position. She had to inform Kisame of where she was going and when she was going to get back in order to get him to keep an eye out for Sasori and Itachi so she could sneak out of Akatsuki Headquarters. The two of them had been keeping an awfully close watch on her for the past few days. "Shame it isn't spring or something, we could have eaten outside."

"Yes, it would be rather chilly out there today," Taoki said, sipping the steaming coffee that he had ordered. Sakura watched him curiously, it was nearly boiling and yet he didn't seem to be affected at all, he hadn't even blown on it to cool it down. "But it's nice in here all the same."

"Yes, yes indeed it is," Talking to him was rather pleasant; she didn't have to listen to the swearing of Hidan or be outwitted by Sasori or Itachi. "Have you lived here long, Taoki-san?"

"Oh, no it's only been a few years. Tell me, Sakura-san where did you get such a necklace?"

"Hmm? Oh," Sakura blushed and looked down at the heart-shaped diamond necklace that was hung around her neck. "It was a Christmas present from one of my friends."

"I see, might I ask who? I may know this friend you speak of."

"Oh, no you probably wouldn't. He's not originally from here either, he's from Sunagakura."

"Sunagakura, I see. Yes, you're right, I probably wouldn't know him," Sakura noticed a slight change in Taoki's tone but decided to pay no attention to it, it was probably just the coffee, maybe it was bitter. "So Sakura-san, tell me about yourself."

His question took her aback, if she was still in Konohagakura she could have gone on about her teammates and her apprenticeship with the Hokage but now she was with the Akatsuki and she wasn't really sure where to start. "Well, in the shinobi department I'm skilled in medical jutsu and I have perfect chakra control which enables me to have incredible strength capabilities."

"I see, and who is your partner in the Akatsuki?"

She wasn't sure if she was allowed to answer that sort of question, the Akatsuki were very secretive, "Well, currently my partner is the same one who gave me my necklace."

Taoki chuckled to himself, "No names then?"

"Sorry," Sakura smiled warmly at him, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea and have him think she was angry at him for asking.

"Well I'll just have to figure it out for myself then," He closed an eye and waved a finger at her, smirking. "So, what inspired you to become one of the Akatsuki?"

"Well, I err," It probably wasn't a good idea to tell him that she had been kidnapped from her home by the same person who was both her partner and the one who had given her the necklace around her neck. "I don't know, I suppose I just lost loyalty to my original village and so I sought out the Akatsuki. They pay awfully well; it's a missing-nin's dream job."

"Ah, I see. But your headband, it doesn't bare the traditional slash through the insignia."

'_Shit,'_ Now what was she supposed to do? He had caught on to her, but was he just being observant or was there intent to his questioning? She untied her headband and looked down at it on the table. "I suppose you're right, I never really thought about it before."

"Oh I see, well you should probably slash it out then right? You wouldn't want people thinking that an Akatsuki was still loyal to their village," Taoki remained cheerful even though he was making Sakura panic inside; she deemed his questioning as completely innocent. He seemed harmless, he was just a villager after all, what could he possibly do?

Sakura picked up her headband off the table and retied it around her head, "It's just a symbol, there's really no need to scratch it out. I have no real loyalty to the Akatsuki; I just do their dirty work to get paid. Crossing out the symbol of Konoha would just mean that I was truly one of them."

"I see."

* * *

Akasuna no Sasori stood in the kitchen of the Akatsuki Headquarters, scowling at Kisame, Hidan, and Tobi. He had searched the premise of the complex for the pink haired kunoichi from Konoha from top to bottom but to no avail. Sakura was neither in the building nor anywhere on the grounds. She had not escaped by herself, someone had assisted her. "I'm giving you three five seconds to fess up."

"I didn't fucking do anything!"

"Five."

"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is a good boy!"

"Four."

"It wasn't me, Sasori ol' pal!"

"Three."

"I don't even know what's fucking going on."

"Two."

"Alright, alright! I helped her!" The puppeteer was already pissed off, if he finished counting down it would be the end for all three of them. Kisame sighed, "Look, she just wanted some fresh air, it can't hurt right?"

"I'm sorry, did you not hear what Leader said about not letting her wander off?"

"It was _you_ who was supposed to be watching her, not us."

"That doesn't mean you just give her the 'O.K.' to roam about the countryside."

"Look, she just went on some date with some guy that we met the other day."

Sasori's brow furrowed further at Kisame's words. A date? With some guy? "And you let her do this knowing that Orochimaru and his two henchmen are out there pursuing her? You now know what Akito Kurosuki is capable of and yet you let her go meander with _'some guy you met the other day'_?"

"He was harmless; we met him when his kid brother and his gang attempted to hit us with two by fours."

"He also could be working for Orochimaru; you know very well that he has spies all over. The more 'harmless' the better."

"Oh c'mon, you're being paranoid, Sasori. Sakura'll be fine, no need to get so concerned about her."

"I'm not concerned about her, I'm concerned about the fact that I will be blamed for her death," He wished he could say that it was true, well he was concerned about his tail being blamed but he was also worried about the well-being of Sakura Haruno. It puzzled him as to why it was so, he had never worried about anyone besides himself before, but at that moment he didn't have time to question himself. "I do not wish to have to explain to Leader that her death was caused due to some _lunch_ _date_."

"_Please_," Kisame scoffed. "He was harmless, right Hidan? The kid certainly didn't look like some spy or assassin."

"Spies and assassins aren't supposed to look like spies or assassins, that's the whole point, Kisame."

"Well you know what I mean, there was just no way."

"Akito Kurosuki played the part of a harmless innkeeper and look at what he turned out to be. You said it yourself, he is Akatsuki level."

"Yeah well this kid looked sorta sickly; he was really pale and stuff. What was his name, Hidan? It started with a 'T' I think and ended in 'ki'.

"Fucking 'Taoki' or something."

Sasori muttered the name under his breath a few times, spelling it out in his head when suddenly it hit him, "You fools! 'Taoki' is an anagram of 'Akito'!"

* * *

The puppet master darted from building to building, scanning the structures on the opposite side of the street for signs of Sakura. Kisame had said it was a lunch date but at this point in time they could very well be roaming the streets of Amegakura. His insides were twisted in a knot of worry for the kunoichi's status but he chose to ignore it. He had to focus on getting her back, if he thought of all the ways Akito Kurosuki could be torturing her it would get in the way of his search, which of course proved his theory on emotions right. They did get in the way, at least sometimes. He would have to inform her of that, without telling her how exactly he had come to that conclusion of course.

Snow was falling from the dark grey sky; the rooftops were covered in it making it difficult for him to leap from one to another. Still, he continued on down the road towards the jewelry store where the mob of girls had been, where he had purchased the necklace for Sakura.

He jumped down onto the street as he neared the jewelry store; the villagers paid no attention as they were all accustomed to ninjas darting from place to place. Running through the crowded streets, Sasori stood in front of the store, looking up at the sign that hung above it, and then he turned and looked across the road.

There sat Sakura Haruno, sitting opposite of a sickly looking boy with black hair tied into a short ponytail, in front of the picture window of the restaurant. Sasori relaxed, she was still in one piece. However, she also looked rather cheerful talking to Kurosuki, she was laughing at the moment, which angered the Scorpion.

"Sakura-san, you must try this tiramisu, it's to—Look out!" Taoki grabbed Sakura's hand, pulling her towards him on the floor of the restaurant to cover her from the flying glass. As the kunoichi recaptured herself, kunai in hand, she noticed that three humanoid puppets were perched on three separate tables, the customers at the noted tables in a state of shock. When they realized what was really happening, both they and the onlookers at other tables scrambled through the door to safety.

Sakura stood up, shaking with anger at the man at the end of the strings. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sasori?!"

"I'm saving your ass, you ungrateful girl!" He jerked a few of his fingers sending two of the puppets towards the sickly-looking boy who dodged them with ease. Unfortunately Sakura did not catch this action, for she would have known that he wasn't really a civilian, she was too busy yelling at the puppet master. "How dare you disrupt my lunch date?"

"And how dare you speak to me like that?!" Sasori snarled, sending poison-tipped senbon at Taoki from one of the puppet's mouth. "Especially since you do not understand the circumstances."

She smirked, almost maniacally, staggering back as one of the puppets flew by her at Taoki, "Are you jealous, Akasuna no Sasori?"

The ex-Suna-nin hesitated for a moment, unable to find a retort to counter her remark. _'…Jealous?'_

"Of course he's jealous of us, Sakura-chan. Who wouldn't be?" Sakura whirled around to see her lunch date grinning fanatically, eyes on Sasori. She watched as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke with a 'poof' and when it cleared her eyes widened as she realized with whom she had been dining with. "Akito."

"Yes, Sakura-chan, it's me. I just had to come and see you; I've missed you something dreadful." His persona changed as he turned to her, he smiled warmly with eyes creased, and then he turned back to Sasori. "Now then, time for us to play."

Akito threw out several shuriken, aimed at Sasori, only to have them blocked by one of his puppets. His grin grew wider; the idea of such a battle against the puppet master excited him.

He disappeared into thin air and reappeared behind Sasori, kunai in hand. The Scorpion was taken by surprise, he hadn't expected him to be able to reach such speed, nevertheless he twitched one of his fingers, sending a puppet towards him, knocking the henchman into the wall.

But that wasn't the end of the fight; Sasori had to release the chakra strings that bound the puppet to him as Akito was sending an electric current up them through it. He had cut them just in time too; if the wave had reached any further he would have been sure to be electrocuted.

Sakura had finally taken the situation in, how could the gentle Taoki have been the monster her partner was battling? But then she remembered how kind and charming Akito could be and it didn't surprise her as much. His questioning over lunch all made sense now.

Now it was her turn to enter the fray, she focused her chakra into her fists and dashed towards Kurosuki, only to be knocked aside in mid-air by one of Sasori's puppets. As she recovered herself on the ground, he gave her a warning glance which Sakura smirked at. This was his battle.

The two puppets, that were still in commission, flung themselves towards Akito, one sending senbon out through its fingertips, the other emitting a poisonous gas. Sakura covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve to protect herself, what was he thinking? He was going to kill all three of them, had he forgotten that he no longer inhabited a puppet? It didn't really matter though, because Kurosuki had formed seals that produced a strong gale of wind that blew away the noxious gas, protecting them all from its toxins. "Sasori, you idiot! You'll kill us both!"

She saw a small smile play on his lips; just what was he smiling about? Sasori stood firm in his battle stance as he watched Kurosuki conduct balls of electricity in the palms of his hands. It was almost like two chidori, except instead of blue lightning it was white. He charged at Sasori, dodging the two puppets that had been hurled at him. The puppet master narrowly dodged the attack, the right sleeve's hem of his robes had been singed by the current and he fell to the ground, rolling over to break it.

Akito launched himself off the wall, forming seals. A large electrical snake was summoned from his jutsu, which dived at Sasori missing him only by inches, and tunneled into the ground. The missing-nin from Kiri laughed as he watched Sasori turn around and around, looking for where the snake would emerge from the ground. He could sense its chakra but it was circling underground so he was unable to detect as to where it would strike.

Although she had been told to stay out of the fight, Sakura thrust her fist into the floor, creating a fissure in the ground big enough to reveal the snake. It sprung up towards Sasori, who wasn't ready for the attack.

It was as if the world was going in slow motion, Sasori's eyes widened as the creature hurled itself towards him. He would not close them; he would face the pain of electrocution without flinching. The puppet master might have been immortal but that did not mean he didn't feel pain.

"Stop!" Sakura Haruno stood in front of her partner, arms outstretched as if shielding him from the oncoming attack. The snake immediately vanished and Sakura relaxed. Akito wouldn't dare hurt her.

"My dear Sakura-chan, you need not protect such scum. You're only prolonging his eventual death." Kurosuki smiled warmly at her, waving a finger. "I suppose I've overstayed my welcome now haven't I? Don't worry Sakura-chan; I'll be back for you."

And with that he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

She turned to the Akatsuki who was sitting on the ground looking very sour. He was rather dirty from the dust that had risen after she had made impact on the ground and his sleeve was singed from the snake. Other than that he looked okay physically, maybe a few bruises from the fall he had taken, but his ego had been damaged. Not only had Akito Kurosuki escaped from him yet again he was saved by some girl.

Sakura sat down beside him in the rubble that was once a restaurant, "I guess it's a good thing you came to rescue me, if you hadn't I might have been stuck living with that creep for the rest of my life."

Sasori made a noise that told her that her efforts to cheer him up had failed miserably. She couldn't really blame him for sulking; his pride had just been stomped on. "I can't believe I didn't see through his disguise."

"Neither can I."

"What's that supposed to mean?" It was expected for him to say something like that, that was the idea. At least it would get him talking. "It means you're not much of a shinobi."

"Oh is that so?"

"That's right," He ruffled his hair with his hand to shake out some of the dirt. "You should have never passed your exam."

"Well it's a good thing I did; I wouldn't know what else to do with myself if I wasn't a ninja."

"You could have become a housewife or something, clean and stuff," Sakura frowned; Suna's citizens could be so old-fashioned. "And who would I clean for?"

"You could clean for me; I appreciate having my quarters at Headquarters spotless, if you haven't noticed."

"Well in order for me to do that I'd have to be your wife, now wouldn't I?"

"I suppose you would," He seemed to muse on the subject, looking up at the patch of sky through the hole in the ceiling in wonder. Sakura was busy looking at him however, her face flushed as red as his hair and eyes. "I assume you'd want me to cook for you as well?"

"Hmm, well I do take pleasure in cooking however I suppose you could if needed."

"And what else do you expect me to do?"

"Let's see, well you could greet me at the door after I came home from a long battle or something with tea and sandwiches," It was amazing how casually he could talk about the assumed life of him and her. "And then you could massage my shoulders or something."

"Oh I see, and what about the kids?"

"Children?"

"Well yes, I plan on having kids."

"I see, how many?"

"Hmm, how about eight?"

"_Eight_ children?"

"Sure."

Sasori's casual aura changed as he turned to her, his lip was curled and his eyes were the same as they had been the night he had kissed her, "We must have been _awful busy_ to produce eight children."

"Indeed, I suppose we would have been," Her own lips twitched into a smirk, she couldn't help it. It seemed awfully strange, the two of them sitting in the aftermath of a battle, the place torn to bits, in the freezing cold, pondering a make-believe life together. Passersby must have found the sight rather peculiar. "Then again, I don't know if I could take eight little Sasoris, one is bad enough."

"Oh? And what is _that_ supposed to mean, Miss Sakura?" He smirked, arching an eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing," She laughed, throwing her head back as she rocked back and forth, legs crossed. "Nothing at all."

"Well then, where would we live with all of these children?"

"In a huge castle," She said, standing up and stretching her arms out to signify the size of the fortress. "Surrounded by a vast meadow of flowers."

"A castle, hmm? So now we're not only husband and wife but king and queen?" The puppet master sat there watching her twirl around listing off all the wondrous things that they would do. He decided he liked this carefree, happy version of Sakura; well then again, he liked most versions of her, except maybe when she was crying. The night she had wept on his shoulder wasn't one of his more favorable moments of her; he would even take the angry version of her over that. For some reason he could not explain, he didn't like to see her sad.

The two of them conversed of their supposed magical life for nearly an hour until the wind whipped itself up and it was beginning to get dark. "I suppose we should head back to Headquarters, our real home."

* * *

Tsunade stood before the shinobi team of ten that had come before her. Their bags were packed full with food and sleeping supplies as well as weapons, this would be a long journey that would require them to be in top shape and on guard at all times. It would be an adventure for all of them, a deadly one but an adventure all the same. Every single one of them knew full-well that there was a chance that none of them would make it back to their village alive. The mission they were about to embark on surpassed the highest ranking of danger, and once they started there would be no turning back. They were going to take on the Akatsuki and return what they had taken from them.

"Sakura Haruno will be heavily guarded; do not think for a minute that you will go finish this mission without a fight for your life." The snow was falling quickly and would make travel for the ninja difficult, but their task had to be done. The Sannin walked a few steps towards them, "Her captor is Akasuna no Sasori, there is no question about it: you will have to take him down."

"Tsunade-baachan, Sasori is dead, Sakura-chan killed him!" Naruto Uzumaki took a step towards the Hokage himself, challenging her statement. "I realize that Naruto, however there is no doubt in my mind that it was he who sent me that letter."

He opened his mouth to defy her but Kakashi Hatake held out a hand to silence him, "So, Hokage-sama, please go over the mission details."

She gave the Copy-nin a curt nod and proceeded, "As you know you are to bring Sakura back alive from the clutches of the Akatsuki. Our sources, meaning Jiraiya, inform us that their Headquarters is located not far from the boundaries of Amegakura. Do not, under any circumstances enter into the village, there will be spies all over, a large crew of ninja, no matter how well disguised, will be easily picked out."

For a moment she paused, looking over the serious, yet eager shinobi in front of her. They all seemed so determined to return their friend to her rightful home, "I had stated before that Sakura will undoubtedly be heavily guarded, do not forget this. The Akatsuki will stop at nothing, they are ruthless murderers and skilled at that. I'm afraid to say that there is really no plan that could possibly be put into order, the only thing I could hope for would be that they will not be at Headquarters all at once."

Tsunade tried to smile but she couldn't manage it, there was a possibility that none of them would ever make it back to the village alive, there was a possibility that each and every one of them would have their name inscribed on the Memorial Stone under the currently frozen cherry blossoms trees' branches. "And now, I wish you all the best and I expect to see you all return to Konoha with Sakura unharmed."

With that she stepped aside and allowed the ten of them to dart off into the snowy unknown.

**A/N: Hopefully that was a bit better than the last chapter. Like I said before, I'm a noob when it comes to fight scenes, I just feel like I can't do the characters justice in showing off their real potential and strength…I seem to make them seem so weak and…genin-like.**

**Anywho, the Konohagakura-guys are finally entering the pursuit of Sakura, it's about time if I do say so myself. I couldn't have them going after her right away because then the story would be over with in like two chapters. Of course that doesn't mean that this is anywhere near finished.**

**I may take a little break from this story to work on the other two, catch 'em up to where this one is. That and I have to figure out what exactly I'm going to do for the next few chapters. Gotta try and keep it interesting after all.**

**Reviews would be nice. Kthxbye.**


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